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WWII vet lives long enough to see justice

Just before Samuel Snow, 83, would have been the guest of honor in a parade for 28 black soldiers dishonorably discharged from the Army after World War II, his heart lost hold of the strong cadence that guided him through 60 years of pain.

Snow entered a Seattle hospital with an irregular heartbeat Friday night. Late Saturday night — just hours after finally receiving his long-delayed honorable discharge — Snow died.

The exact cause of death has not yet been released.

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., one of many who fought to have the charges against the soldiers dropped, said Snow’s son, Ray, read his father’s honorable discharge to him, and reported that his father smiled broadly.

“My dad has been standing in formation all these years waiting to have his name cleared,” Ray Snow said in a prepared statement. “With the Army’s honorable discharge, he was at ease. He now has his discharge papers and went home.”

Like many of the others in the case, Samuel Snow did not talk about that period in his life, which began in 1944 when the Army tried 43 black soldiers in the hanging death of Pvt. Guglielmo Olivotto, an Italian prisoner of war held at Fort Lawton, Wash. The court found 23 of the men guilty, sent several to prison and dishonorably discharged all 23.

Years later, journalist Jack Hamann investigated the case, and detailed his findings in a book, “On American Soil.” He said “every single bit of evidence” points to a white soldier as the actual murderer — a man who is also now dead. Hamann said that man, Clyde Lomack, tried to hide his crime by inciting a fight between the Italian POWs and the black soldiers, whose barracks were next to each other.

As he looked into the case, Hamann found and interviewed Snow, who lived in Leesburg, Fla., several times. Snow’s memories of the case, all the way down to how the men wore their hair to how tall they were to who said what, matched up with old military records, Hamann said. Their interviews grew into a friendship, and after Snow’s death, Hamann said Snow should be remembered as “an honorable man.”

“His legacy should be that he told the truth,” Hamann and his wife, Leslie Hamann, said in a statement.

Because of Hamann’s work, McDermott stepped in to seek retribution for the soldiers. Snow received a check for back pay — for $725.

Both the Senate and the House recently passed measures asking that cost-of-living and interest adjustments be added to the payments. The changes would boost Snow’s check to $80,000. The proposal is included in the pending 2009 defense authorization bill.

“The passing of Samuel Snow is very sad,” McDermott said in a release. “But I am grateful that the Lord saw fit to allow Mr. Snow to live long enough to receive his honorable discharge and to see justice done.”

Related reading:

Army apologizes over convictions of black soldiers

Honor restored to 23 WWII soldiers (May 18, 2008)