50 years after he was chained and set afire, WWI veteran is honored

50 years after he was chained and set afire, WWI veteran is honored
By Wayne Drash, CNN
April 7, 2010 10:01 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Isadore Banks gets military honors 90 years after he served nation in World War I
Banks was chained to a tree and set on fire in June 1954
His case is one of the nation's oldest unsolved civil rights killings
"This has been a long time coming," a granddaughter said
Marion, Arkansas (CNN) -- A traditional three-shot volley salute and the solemn sound of taps echoed across the black cemetery in the Delta flatlands of Arkansas, just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee.

The military honors were followed by the jubilant singing of "Amazing Grace." The service had been five decades in the making.

Everyone was here to honor Isadore Banks, an African-American veteran of World War I who was chained to a tree in June 1954, doused in gasoline and burned beyond recognition.

The slaying -- a year before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to whites on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama -- remains one of the nation's oldest unsolved civil rights cases.

"This has been a long time coming," said Marcelina Williams, a granddaughter who worked with the Army to arrange Monday's ceremony after she found her grandfather's military records. "Bless our country with freedom and righteousness."
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50 years after he was chained and set afire WWI veteran is honored