Army pays for old injustice

Army pays for old injustice
Martin E. Comas | Sentinel Staff Writer
October 16, 2008
LEESBURG - The family of a World War II veteran who spent almost a year in a military prison after being wrongly convicted more than 60 years ago now may receive as much as $80,000 in back pay from the Army, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

"It's easy. It's clear. It's the right thing to do," said Nelson, D-Fla., on Wednesday, a day after President Bush signed a military appropriations bill with a provision that awards back pay plus interest to veterans whose claims arise from the correction of military records.

Samuel Snow of Leesburg was among 28 black soldiers falsely convicted of sparking a riot during World War II that led to the lynching of an Italian prisoner of war at an Army base in Seattle. Snow, a skinny teenager at the time, served almost 12 months in a military prison and was dishonorably discharged.

Snow died in July at age 83 just hours after receiving an honorable discharge and an Army apology during a ceremony in Seattle. He always maintained that he had nothing to do with the riot, which broke out at Fort Lawton in August 1944.
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