News | Veterans of historic 1944 Fort Lawton court-martial get huge boost from Senate committee

VETERANS OF HISTORIC 1944 FORT LAWTON COURT-MARTIAL GET HUGE BOOST FROM SENATE COMMITTEE

Meager $725 award to veteran would be affected

WASHINGTON, D.C. - 28 World War II veterans—all of them African Americans—received a major boost today from the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The committee approved a measure granting the military authority to award interest on back pay owed to Sam Snow and to 27 other veterans stationed at Seattle’s Fort Lawton in 1944.

The veterans were among 43 defendants in the largest and longest Army court-martial of World War II. All had been charged by Army prosecutor Leon Jaworski with rioting; three were also charged with the lynching murder of a 33-year-old Italian prisoner of war, Guglielmo Olivotto. It is the only reported case in American history where black men have been convicted of a mob lynching.

On October 26, 2007, the U.S. Army’s highest court of appeal declared that Jaworski had committed “egregious error” in his decision to withhold exculpatory evidence from the defendants, information which would have likely cleared most of the soldiers and exposed Olivotto’s true killer. Acting at the behest of Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), and citing research from the book On American Soil by Seattle journalists Jack & Leslie Hamann, the court ruled that the Fort Lawton court-martial had been “fundamentally unfair,” paving the way for the reversal of all 28 convictions.

The landmark decision of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records included a directive to compensate the 28 veterans—or their estates—for back pay and benefits withheld during their incarceration. Army regulations, however, do not provide for payment of interest or adjustments for cost of living increases. In the case of Samuel Snow of Leesburg, Florida, the amount of back pay and compensation under those regulations was deemed to be a meager $725.

Mr. Snow’s check for $725 spurred national outrage. Army Secretary Pete Geren called the check “a travesty of justice.”

On January 23, 2008, two bills—one in the U.S. Senate and one in the U.S. House of Representatives—were introduced in Congress to remedy the oversight. HR 5130, authored by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and S 2548, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) each sought to revise the Army’s back pay regulations. In today’s action, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a broad defense policy bill which included Sen. Nelson’s language from S 2548.

“We’re trying to do the right thing here and get the Army to provide Mr. Snow with just compensation,” Nelson said. “Sam [Snow] deserves more than just an apology and a few hundred bucks for the time he was wrongly imprisoned in a military jail six decades ago.”

“I’m elated,” said McDermott. “The key to this legislation is to get it through the Senate. Today’s action raises awareness and will help us redouble our efforts in the House.”

Only two of the 43 defendants are known to be alive: Samuel Snow of Florida, and Roy Montgomery of Illinois. The families of just nine other defendants have been located, in California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana and Missouri. Efforts continue to find the remaining 32 families.

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.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Armed Services Committee today acted to right a past wrong by the Army, when it approved a measure giving the military the authority to award interest on back pay owed to Sam Snow, a wrongly imprisoned Orlando-area World War II veteran.

The panel included the language, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, in a broad defense policy bill.

“We’re trying to do the right thing here and get the Army to provide Mr. Snow with just compensation,” Nelson said. “Sam deserves more than just an apology and a few hundred bucks for the time he was wrongly imprisoned in a military jail six decades ago.”

The case of the Leesburg, Florida veteran first came to light in October of 2007 when the Army admitted it had made a mistake in wrongfully convicting 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 year he’d spent in prison. Paying Snow in today’s dollars would amount to about $8,000 – or, about $80,000 with interest.

Nelson and U.S. 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.

During a February hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Nelson questioned Army czar Pete Geren about the treatment of Snow.

“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.”

So Nelson began working to change the law. His measure passed in the defense bill Thursday now goes to the full Senate for a vote later this year.