[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3174 Introduced in House (IH)]
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 Representatives 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-degree murder of Guglielmo Olivotto, an Italian
prisoner 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 policemen 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 Elliot 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, General 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 reassigned, 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
disturbance 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 transcripts were in
the possession of the Army prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Leon
Jaworski, throughout the trial. When defense attorney Major
William Beeks requested access to the report in open court,
Lieutenant Colonel Jaworski refused, and the members 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 witnesses for the
prosecution. The fact that both were to be court-martialed for
their role in the disturbance 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 manslaughter. All were
sentenced to a period of confinement, 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 included 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 spending the rest of their lives with the
dishonorable discharge 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 August 14, 1944. The purpose of the review shall be to
determine 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 submit 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 determines 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 Secretary shall correct that individual's military records
(including the record of the court-martial in such case) as necessary
to rectify the error or injustice.
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