Fort Lawton Riot The Fort Lawton Riot refers to a series of events starting with a violent conflict between U . S . soldiers and Italian prisoners of war at Fort Lawton in Seattle during World War II . After the riot , prisoner Guglielmo Olivotto was found dead . This led to the court - martial of 43 soldiers , all of them African - American . In 2005 , the book " On American Soil " helped to convince the U . S . Army Board for Correction of Military Records that prosecutor Leon Jaworski had committed " egregious error , " and that all convictions should be reversed . President George W . Bush signed legislation allowing the Army to disburse back pay to the defendants or their survivors . Riot . The night of August 14 , 1944 , an African American port company at Fort Lawton , Seattle was under orders to ship out to the war zone the next morning . Just after 11 p . m , an intoxicated black soldier and his three companions crossed paths with three Italians , who may have also been drinking . Words were exchanged , the black soldier rushed forward , and with one punch , an Italian knocked the American out cold . The Italians retreated to adjacent barracks , but the call went out about the confrontation . A number of black soldiers , including Pvt . Samuel Snow , ran after the Italians , wielding boards from a fence that they broke down . The Italians who were in their bunks for the night heard rocks and bricks being thrown against their windows in their dark quarters , assumed they were being attacked and began running , some jumping out of windows . In the melee , both Italians and United States soldiers were injured . Hearing the commotion , and responding to a ' whistle ' calling them to defend their fellow soldiers , dozens of black soldiers came out of their barracks . A rumor began that one American was dead . ( This was untrue . ) Assuming they were being attacked , dozens of black soldiers headed into the Italian area , armed with rocks , fence posts and a couple of knives . Private Clyde Lomax , a Caucasian member of the Military Police Corps , was responsible for patrolling the area known as the " Colored Area , " and was on the scene almost immediately . He loaded the most severely injured American into his jeep , but delayed transporting him to the hospital . Lomax also failed to request back up from fellow military policemen or to notify the chain of command of the severity of the situation . More than forty minutes passed before a contingent of military policemen arrived . By then , dozens were injured . The most seriously injured , all Italian prisoners - of - war , were transported to hospitals where one Italian spent 16 months recovering from his injuries . The military policemen restored order without taking anyone into custody . Later , they claimed it had been too dark to identify any of the participants in the riot . The next morning , Lomax , accompanied by a black military policeman , discovered the body of Guglielmo Olivotto , hanging from a noose on the obstacle course . Investigation . By sunset on the day Olivotto ' s body was discovered , Fort Lawton commanding officer Colonel Harry Branson ( 1890 – 1963 ) had ordered all evidence destroyed . No fingerprints were secured , no footprints saved , no weapons properly catalogued . When Branson tried to ship the black soldiers to San Francisco that same day , he was countermanded after a subordinate reported his attempt to the Pentagon . The riot and lynching was front page news in Seattle , and became a major story across the United States . The United States Army sent its best young prosecutor , Leon Jaworski ( 1905 – 1982 ) of Houston , to conduct a two - month investigation . ( Jaworski would eventually distinguish himself as one of the best - known American lawyers in the 20th century , culminating in his appointment as special prosecutor in the investigation of the Watergate scandal and the winning litigant in United States v . Nixon . ) During weeks of interrogations , Jaworski ' s investigators offered immunity to several soldiers who would agree to testify . Most refused , including Samuel Snow and Roy Montgomery . Five black soldiers agreed , however , to testify for the prosecution in exchange for immunity . Six decades later , all five were said to have had unrelated grudges against many of the men they accused . Most Italian prisoners - of - war were unable to identify a single black soldier , citing the darkness and confusion . Two , however , offered confident identifications of dozens of the Americans and those two became Jaworski ' s main witnesses . Decades later , both were shown to have been previously identified as unreliable security risks by officers of the Military Intelligence Corps . As reports of the riot and lynching reached the Pentagon , General Elliot Cooke ( 1891 – 1961 ) was sent to Seattle , charged with determining who , if anyone , had failed to prevent the riot and lynching . Cooke did his investigation before Jaworski had arrived . Cooke was not responsible for helping Jaworski with the criminal investigation , but Jaworski was given access to all of Cooke ' s interrogations and conclusions . In a classified report to Virgil L . Peterson , the Inspector General , Cooke concluded that the Fort Lawton commander had botched the initial criminal investigation , recommended Branson ' s demotion and / or reassignment and ordered that Lomax be court - martialed for abandoning his post during the riot and lynching . Defense . After weeks of investigation , Jaworski decided to charge 43 soldiers , all of them African American , with rioting , a crime with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment . Three of the men – Luther Larkin ( 1921 – 1948 ) , Arthur Hurks ( 1921 – 1991 ) and William Jones ( 1924 – 1992 ) – were also charged with first - degree murder , and faced a possible death sentence . It was the largest number of defendants in a single United States Army trial during World War II . The defendants were provided just two lawyers among them , who were given just ten days to prepare their cases . The lead defense attorney , William Beeks ( 1906 – 1988 ) , later became a federal judge . He was assisted by Howard Noyd , a former football player from Iowa . Without much time , defense lawyers decided to focus most of their energy on trying to keep the soldiers from the gallows . Trial . The nine - member court - martial , all white officers , convened on November 16 , 1944 . Trial was held six days a week and all day on Thanksgiving . On December 8 , 1944 , Beeks discovered for the first time that Jaworski had gained access to General Cooke ' s lengthy confidential report . Citing concerns about wartime security , Jaworski repeatedly refused to give the report to the defense , despite a prosecutorial obligation to do so , and the court refused to intervene . Beeks never learned about Cooke ' s criticism of Branson , Lomax and others , information which would likely have discredited most of Jaworski ' s main witnesses . Jaworski even called Lomax to testify against the black soldiers . Verdicts . After five weeks – the longest United States Army court - martial of World War II – the court found 28 of the defendants guilty of rioting , and two – Luther Larkin and William Jones – guilty of manslaughter . Sentences ranged from six months to 25 years at penal labour . All but one defendant were issued dishonorable discharges at the completion of their prison sentences . Because it was a capital case , an automatic appeal was sent to the U . S . Army ' s Board of Review . The appeals were rejected without elaboration . In 1945 , at the end of World War II , President Harry Truman was eager to establish a reputation of being helpful to veteran s . He began issuing annual " Christmas clemencies " , reducing the sentences of thousands of soldiers , including the Fort Lawton defendants . By 1949 , the last Fort Lawton defendant left prison . Investigative journalism . In 1986 , journalist Jack Hamann found Guglielmo Olivotto ' s headstone in the Fort Lawton cemetery . After months of research , most of it relying on secondary sources , Hamann produced an Emmy Award winning one - hour special program for Seattle ' s NBC affiliate , KING - TV . The program raised some questions about the prosecution , but did not offer any substantial evidence to refute Jaworski ' s case . In 2001 , Hamann and his wife , Leslie Hamann , began a four - year effort to locate primary sources , including documents and witnesses . During several weeks of research at the National Archives in College Park , Maryland , the Hamanns came across General Cooke ' s newly - declassified report . The revelations in that report became the basis for their book , " On American Soil : How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II " . In 2006 , Investigative Reporters and Editors , Inc . ( IRE ) named " On American Soil " the nation ' s best investigative book of the year . U . S . Congress . On July 1 , 2005 , U . S . Rep Jim McDermott ( D - WA ) introduced HR 3174 , a bill demanding that the United States Army reopen the Fort Lawton case , based on the allegations made by " On American Soil " . The bill , with dozens of co - sponsors , remained in the House Armed Services Committee until the chairman of that committee , U . S . Rep . Duncan Hunter ( R - CA ) received a letter from constituent Julianna Hamann , mother of author Jack Hamann . After committee staff vetted the book , Rep . McDermott and Rep . Hunter agreed on June 8 , 2006 , to exercise a Congressional privilege allowing them to insist that the U . S . Army Board for Correction of Military Records ( ABCMR ) review the convictions . U . S . Army Board for Correction of Military Records . On October 26 , 2007 , the ABCMR ruled unanimously that Leon Jaworski had committed " egregious error " in his prosecution of the Fort Lawton case , particularly by refusing to make the Cooke Report available to the defense . The board , calling the trial " fundamentally unfair " , overturned the convictions and ordered that defendants be issued retroactive honorable discharges . In addition , the surviving defendants – or the estates of those who have since died – were deemed entitled to " all rights , privileges and property lost as a result of the convictions " , including " all due pay and allowances " . $ 725 check . On November 29 , 2007 , Samuel Snow received a check for $ 725 . An army spokesman explained that the Board ' s order was so unusual and sweeping that army regulations contained no provision for payment of interest in such cases . The small checks received by Snow and by the families of other Fort Lawton veterans resulted in stories about the supposed unfairness and inadequacy of the regulations . On January 23 , 2008 , Rep . Jim McDermott introduced HR 5130 in the House , authorizing the U . S . Army to pay interest on the Fort Lawton awards . Sen . Bill Nelson ( D - FL ) introduced companion bill S 2548 in the Senate . The bills were approved by the Armed Services Committees of both houses , and were supported by testimony from Secretary of the Army Pete Geren , who called Snow ' s small check " a travesty of justice . " On October 14 , 2008 , President George W . Bush signed the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2009 . The bill included the legislation authorizing the army to add tens of thousands of dollars interest to the Fort Lawton veterans ' awards . Tribute . By the summer of 2008 , the army had located two living defendants ( Samuel Snow of Florida and Roy Montgomery of Illinois ) , plus the families of ten others who had since died . King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels organized a tribute to the Fort Lawton defendants and surviving families , featuring a dinner , a parade , a formal military ceremony and a Catholic mass honoring the memory of Guglielmo Olivotto . At the military ceremony , Assistant Army Secretary Ronald James offered a tribute , including an apology and the presentation of belated honorable discharges . Samuel Snow . During the morning of the Seattle military ceremony , Samuel Snow became ill . Hours later , his family brought his honorable discharge to his hospital bedside , where he held it to his chest and smiled broadly . That same evening , he died of heart failure , with his wife and son at his side . Snow ' s death was worldwide news . His funeral in Leesburg , Fla . , drew hundreds of mourners ; he received a burial with full military honors . Roy Montgomery . Roy Montgomery did not attend the Seattle ceremony , so Assistant Army Secretary Ronald James went to his home in Illinois to present a personal apology and hand - deliver his back pay . Montgomery responded " This is a great satisfaction . Now I can forget about the whole thing . That ' s all I ever wanted to do . " On December 6 , 2012 , Roy Laine Montgomery died at the age of 91 , survived by one daughter [ Lynda Gill ] and three grandsons [ Kendall , Keith and Kevin ] and numerous great - grandchildren .