Jack Hamann: 'On American Soil'
Award-winning journalist Jack Hamann discussed "On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II" on Feb. 13, 2011 at The Seattle Public Library. On the night of Aug. 14, 1944, African-American soldiers from segregated units attacked Italian prisoners of war at Seattle's Fort Lawton. The riot resulted in the death of one of the Italian POWs, whose body was found hanging from a rope the morning after. Researching the story, Jack Hamann came to believe that the U.S. Army had bungled the investigation of the riot, destroyed and withheld key evidence from the defense during the trial, and covered it up by railroading the black soldiers.