FEBRUARY 13, 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Appearing before the Senate Armed Services committee, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren labeled the meager check issued to Fort Lawton defendant Samuel Snow a "travesty of justice."

Geren was responding to questions from Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), sponsor of a bill to amend Army regulations to allow adjustments for inflation for awards granted to 28 former Army soldiers at Fort Lawton.

"When I learned of this," said Secretary Geren, " I asked our lawyers to find some way to address this, and they kept coming back saying, there is no way to do it."

"I'm glad," Geren said to Sen. Nelson," that you introduced a bill, and I hope there is speedy consideration of it so we can right this wrong."

HR 5130, authored by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and S 2548, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) both seek to revise Army regulations which seem to limit the awards for back pay and benefits available to the 28 former US soldiers whose 1944 convictions were overturned by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records.

Each bill has been referred to the Armed Services Committee in the respective chambers.

Press release, issued by the office of Sen. Bill Nelson on February 13, 2008:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The case of a local man who’s a World War II veteran became a topic of debate today in the U.S. Senate.

During a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida questioned Army czar Pete Geren about the treatment of Samuel Snow, an Orlando-area man who received only $725 in compensation after having been wrongly convicted and jailed six decades ago.

“It seems to me under equity and fairness … that somewhere in the bowels of the Pentagon [ there is ] the ability through equity and fairness to adjust $720 in back pay,” Nelson said. “It is hard to believe that in the Department of Defense that there is not discretion there somewhere to correct this wrong.”

Geren replied, “It is a travesty of justice,” but “under the current statutory framework we are prohibited from deviating from that schedule.”

In October of 2007, the Army admitted it had made a mistake when it wrongfully convicted Snow and 27 other black soldiers of participating in a 1944 riot at Seattle’s Fort Lawton that resulted in the lynching of an Italian prisoner of war.

The military gave Snow only $725 in lost pay for the time he’d spent in prison. Paying Snow in today’s dollars would amount to about $8,000, and about $80,000 with interest

Nelson and Rep. Jim McDermott filed legislation in January to force the military to award interest on any back pay owed to Snow, and to any others in similar circumstances who have convictions overturned by the courts or Army’s Board for Correction of Military Records.

The full exchange with Geren is posted online here.