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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The largest and longest United States Army 
court-martial of World War II took place in 1944 at 
Fort Lawton, in Seattle, Washington. 
(2) Forty-three defendants, all of them African 
American, were charged with rioting, carrying a 
maximum penalty of life in prison, and three of 
those defendants were also charged with the first-de-
gree murder of Guglielmo Olivotto, an Italian pris-
oner of war, carrying a maximum penalty of death. 
(3) The alleged crimes occurred at Fort Lawton 
on the night of August 14, 1944, in a segregated 
area reserved for African American enlisted men of 
the United States Army and for an Italian Service 
Unit (ISU). 
(4) On August 14, 1944, a member of the 
650th Port Company (an African American unit at 
the fort) had a brief fistfight with a member of the 
28th Italian Service Unit. Over the next 45 minutes, 
approximately 200 African American soldiers from 
all three port companies entered the adjacent Italian 
Service Unit area and a disturbance ensued. Some
portion of that group used fence posts, rocks, bricks, 
and knives to injure members of the Italian unit and 
four American soldiers assigned to the Italian unit. 
After military police arrived and order was restored, 
24 men were taken to the hospital for treatment. 
(5) On August 15, 1944, two military police-
men on patrol spotted the lifeless body of Italian 
prisoner of war, Private Guglielmo Olivotto, lynched 
with a rope tied to an obstacle course cable. 
(6) On October 28, 1944, Brigadier General El-
liot D. Cooke of the Army’s Inspector General Office 
filed a report with the commanding general of Army 
Service Forces. After spending several weeks to take 
the recorded sworn testimony of 164 witnesses, Gen-
eral Cooke made numerous conclusions, all of which 
highlighted the fact that the Army’s investigation 
was deeply flawed and, in the words of the General 
himself, was ‘‘reprehensible’’. 
(7) As a direct result of General Cooke’s report, 
the Fort Lawton commanding officer was relieved of 
his command, the fort provost marshal was reas-
signed, and two white military policemen who failed 
to intervene at the outset of the disturbance were 
court-martialed. Nonetheless, the trial of 43 African
American soldiers charged as a result of the disturb-
ance proceeded. 
(8) The defendants were tried in a group, and 
all 43 shared two Army defense counsel, who were 
given just 10 days to prepare the defense. The 
court-martial lasted 24 trial days. 
(9) The Cooke Report and its voluminous tran-
scripts were in the possession of the Army pros-
ecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Leon Jaworski, through-
out the trial. When defense attorney Major William 
Beeks requested access to the report in open court, 
Lieutenant Colonel Jaworski refused, and the mem-
bers of the court-martial panel refused to intervene. 
(10) The central prosecution witness was an 
Italian prisoner of war whom United States Army 
intelligence had previously identified as ‘‘probably 
pro-Nazi,’’ a fact not made available to the defense. 
(11) The military policemen who had failed to 
intervene at the outset of the disturbance were wit-
nesses for the prosecution. The fact that both were 
to be court-martialed for their role in the disturb-
ance was not made known to the defense. 
(12) The prosecution was unable to produce a 
murder weapon at trial, nor did it offer any witness
or physical evidence linking any of the defendants to 
the death of the Italian prisoner of war. 
(13) Twenty-eight defendants were found guilty 
of rioting and two were also found guilty of man-
slaughter. All were sentenced to a period of confine-
ment, for periods ranging from six months to 25 
years, with the average period of confinement to 
which they were sentenced being 7.5 years, and all 
but one of those convicted received a dishonorable 
discharge. 
(14) On April 19, 1945, a three-member panel 
of the United States Army Board of Review, faced 
with one of the most voluminous trial transcripts of 
the war, summarily dismissed all appeals without 
comment. 
(15) Of the 27 soldiers whose sentences in-
cluded a dishonorable discharge, a few re-enlisted at 
the end of their prison term and eventually obtained 
an honorable discharge. The rest spent or are spend-
ing the rest of their lives with the dishonorable dis-
charge on their military records. 
SEC. 2. REVIEW OF FORT LAWTON COURT-MARTIAL CASES. 
(a) REVIEW.—The Secretary of the Army shall 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 Au-
gust 14, 1944. The purpose of the review shall be to deter-
mine the validity of the original findings and sentences 
and the extent, if any, to which racial prejudice or other 
improper factors now known may have tainted the original 
investigations and trials. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than six months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall sub-
mit to Congress a report on the results of the review under 
subsection (a). The Secretary shall include in the report 
the Secretary’s findings and a statement of the actions 
that Secretary has taken, and intends to take, as a result 
of such review. 
(c) CORRECTION OF RECORDS.—If the Secretary de-
termines that the conviction of an individual in any case 
reviewed under subsection (a) was in error or an injustice, 
then, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec-
retary shall correct that individual’s military records (in-
cluding the record of the court-martial in such case) as 
necessary to rectify the error or injustice.
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