The tale begins in WWII era Seattle. Our city was host to 200 Italian prisoners of war and a number of African-American servicemen in transit, at Fort Lawton on Magnolia Bluff. The Italians were treated more hospitably than the African-Americans — and tension rose. In one dramatic night of violence, one of the POWs was killed, and found hanging the next morning. The ensuing trial (prosecuted by, among others, Leon Jaworski, later of Watergate fame) focused exclusively on the African-American soldiers, who were given various sentences, the lightest of which involved dishonorable discharge.
Many years later, local author and television reporter/producer Jack Hamann became intrigued by a chance comment. It led to a find in Discovery Park (which was originally the site of Fort Lawton): The 1944 headstone of the murdered Italian. He began looking into the story (doing some of his research at the Central Library), eventually making a documentary for KING TV 
that questioned the guilt and the convictions of the African American soldiers. The film gained much attention, but was based only on secondary evidence, much as the original trial was.
However, Hamann did not give up. He and his wife, Leslie Hamann, began to focus on finding the truth, and eventually uncovered hard evidence exonerating many of those convicted, evidence that had been suppressed during the trial. That evidence, and the story behind it, became Hamann’s riveting, incisive and nationally-acclaimed work, On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II.
But the story does not end there. Congressman Jim McDermott read the book and was spurred to insist that the Army reopen the case. The result was that the dishonorable discharges were overturned and the families of the men, many of whom had lived out lives of poverty and disgrace due to their “dishonor,” came to Seattle to finally receive the honor due them from the U.S. Army, and the apology they had certainly craved for more than 60 years. Many of us in Seattle followed this story in the local news.
One of the most heart-wrenching stories is that of Samuel Snow, who was never embittered by his experience. One of only two surviving soldiers from the incident at the time of the recognition ceremony last month, Snow came to Seattle from Florida after a lifetime as a janitor and handyman (the only work he could find) to receive his honorable discharge at long last. He became ill after arriving, living only long enough to receive his recognition plaque in his hospital bed, smiling and wrapping his arms around it (see the P-I story). He died an honorable and honored man, and the long-awaited happy ending to his life was brought about because of an author’s tenacity and search for the truth. Truly, a book brought redemption.
If you’d like to read more on Fort Lawton and this neglected aspect of Seattle’s history, take a look at Fort Lawton by Jack W. Jaunal, and Riot at Fort Lawton, 1944 by Dominic Moreo.
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