I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3174

To direct the Secretary of the Army to carry out without delay a thorough 

review of the cases of all 28 individuals convicted in the court-martial 

arising from a disturbance at Fort Lawton, Seattle, Washington, on 

August 14, 1944, and to require the Secretary to correct the military 

records (including the record of the court-martial in such case) of any 

individual as necessary to rectify error or injustice. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 30, 2005

Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself, Mr. DICKS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. 

SMITH of Washington, Mr. CLAY, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. INSLEE, Ms. 

KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. CARSON, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. WATSON, 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. 

WATT, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, 

Ms. SOLIS, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. 

LARSEN of Washington, Mr. HONDA, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of the Army to carry out without 

delay a thorough review of the cases of all 28 individuals 

convicted in the court-martial arising from a disturbance 

at Fort Lawton, Seattle, Washington, on August 14, 

1944, and to require the Secretary to correct the military 

records (including the record of the court-martial in such 

case) of any individual as necessary to rectify error or 

injustice.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) The largest and longest United States Army 

6 court-martial of World War II took place in 1944 at 

7 Fort Lawton, in Seattle, Washington. 

8 (2) Forty-three defendants, all of them African 

9 American, were charged with rioting, carrying a 

10 maximum penalty of life in prison, and three of 

11 those defendants were also charged with the first-de12 gree murder of Guglielmo Olivotto, an Italian pris13 oner of war, carrying a maximum penalty of death. 

14 (3) The alleged crimes occurred at Fort Lawton 

15 on the night of August 14, 1944, in a segregated 

16 area reserved for African American enlisted men of 

17 the United States Army and for an Italian Service 

18 Unit (ISU). 

19 (4) On August 14, 1944, a member of the 

20 650th Port Company (an African American unit at 

21 the fort) had a brief fistfight with a member of the 

22 28th Italian Service Unit. Over the next 45 minutes, 

23 approximately 200 African American soldiers from 

24 all three port companies entered the adjacent Italian 

25 Service Unit area and a disturbance ensued. Some 
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1 portion of that group used fence posts, rocks, bricks, 

2 and knives to injure members of the Italian unit and 

3 four American soldiers assigned to the Italian unit. 

4 After military police arrived and order was restored, 

5 24 men were taken to the hospital for treatment. 

6 (5) On August 15, 1944, two military police7 men on patrol spotted the lifeless body of Italian 

8 prisoner of war, Private Guglielmo Olivotto, lynched 

9 with a rope tied to an obstacle course cable. 

10 (6) On October 28, 1944, Brigadier General El11 liot D. Cooke of the Army’s Inspector General Office 

12 filed a report with the commanding general of Army 

13 Service Forces. After spending several weeks to take 

14 the recorded sworn testimony of 164 witnesses, Gen15 eral Cooke made numerous conclusions, all of which 

16 highlighted the fact that the Army’s investigation 

17 was deeply flawed and, in the words of the General 

18 himself, was ‘‘reprehensible’’. 

19 (7) As a direct result of General Cooke’s report, 

20 the Fort Lawton commanding officer was relieved of 

21 his command, the fort provost marshal was reas22 signed, and two white military policemen who failed 

23 to intervene at the outset of the disturbance were 

24 court-martialed. Nonetheless, the trial of 43 African 
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1 American soldiers charged as a result of the disturb2 ance proceeded. 

3 (8) The defendants were tried in a group, and 

4 all 43 shared two Army defense counsel, who were 

5 given just 10 days to prepare the defense. The 

6 court-martial lasted 24 trial days. 

7 (9) The Cooke Report and its voluminous tran8 scripts were in the possession of the Army pros9 ecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Leon Jaworski, through10 out the trial. When defense attorney Major William 

11 Beeks requested access to the report in open court, 

12 Lieutenant Colonel Jaworski refused, and the mem13 bers of the court-martial panel refused to intervene. 

14 (10) The central prosecution witness was an 

15 Italian prisoner of war whom United States Army 

16 intelligence had previously identified as ‘‘probably 

17 pro-Nazi,’’ a fact not made available to the defense. 

18 (11) The military policemen who had failed to 

19 intervene at the outset of the disturbance were wit20 nesses for the prosecution. The fact that both were 

21 to be court-martialed for their role in the disturb22 ance was not made known to the defense. 

23 (12) The prosecution was unable to produce a 

24 murder weapon at trial, nor did it offer any witness 
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1 or physical evidence linking any of the defendants to 

2 the death of the Italian prisoner of war. 

3 (13) Twenty-eight defendants were found guilty 

4 of rioting and two were also found guilty of man5 slaughter. All were sentenced to a period of confine6 ment, for periods ranging from six months to 25 

7 years, with the average period of confinement to 

8 which they were sentenced being 7.5 years, and all 

9 but one of those convicted received a dishonorable 

10 discharge. 

11 (14) On April 19, 1945, a three-member panel 

12 of the United States Army Board of Review, faced 

13 with one of the most voluminous trial transcripts of 

14 the war, summarily dismissed all appeals without 

15 comment. 

16 (15) Of the 27 soldiers whose sentences in17 cluded a dishonorable discharge, a few re-enlisted at 

18 the end of their prison term and eventually obtained 

19 an honorable discharge. The rest spent or are spend20 ing the rest of their lives with the dishonorable dis21 charge on their military records. 

22 SEC. 2. REVIEW OF FORT LAWTON COURT-MARTIAL CASES. 

23 (a) REVIEW.—The Secretary of the Army shall carry 

24 out without delay a thorough review of the cases of all 

25 28 individuals convicted in the court-martial arising from 
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1 a disturbance at Fort Lawton, Seattle, Washington on Au2 gust 14, 1944. The purpose of the review shall be to deter3 mine the validity of the original findings and sentences 

4 and the extent, if any, to which racial prejudice or other 

5 improper factors now known may have tainted the original 

6 investigations and trials. 

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than six months after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall sub9 mit to Congress a report on the results of the review under 

10 subsection (a). The Secretary shall include in the report 

11 the Secretary’s findings and a statement of the actions 

12 that Secretary has taken, and intends to take, as a result 

13 of such review. 

14 (c) CORRECTION OF RECORDS.—If the Secretary de15 termines that the conviction of an individual in any case 

16 reviewed under subsection (a) was in error or an injustice, 

17 then, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec18 retary shall correct that individual’s military records (in19 cluding the record of the court-martial in such case) as 

20 necessary to rectify the error or injustice.

Æ