MEDIA COVERAGE OF ON AMERICAN SOIL

WASHINGTON -- One of the defendants of the controversial Fort Lawton military trials of 1944 was honored in D.C. last week at the conference of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Samuel Snow, then 19, was one of 28 African-American soldiers court-martialed by the Army after an Italian prisoner of war was found lynched on the fort's obstacle course.

A melee ensued; 28 black soldiers were found guilty of rioting, and two of them were convicted of manslaughter. They served time, and 27 were dishonorably discharged.

Snow, who may be the last surviving witness to the incident at Fort Lawton, was the subject of a 2002 Seattle Times article, which prompted the then-commanding Army general of Fort Lawton to publicly reach out and make amends; that helped get the cases of some of the convicted soldiers before Congress. [see note below]

Some of those 1944 convictions are now under review by the Army Board of Correction of Military Records, in part because of a book, "On American Soil," by Seattle author Jack Hamann. His reporting alleges that racism wrongly affected the trials' procedures and outcomes.

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, who has worked with Hamann and the Army to set the record straight on what happened at the fort, now home to Seattle's Discovery Park, arranged for Snow's trip to D.C. from his home in Florida.

In a speech to the Black Caucus on Friday, an emotional McDermott said, "Samuel Snow, it's about time someone said publicly that you served your country with dignity and distinction, but, regrettably, your country failed you."

Alicia Mundy: 202-662-7457

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

[NOTE: As of October 1, 2007, Samuel Snow is one of several surviving witnesses to the the incident at Fort Lawton. At the time of the 2002 Seattle Times article, there were dozens of witnesses still alive. Also, there is no evidence that the Times article helped get the cases of some of the convicted soldiers before Congress]