Autumn at Discovery Park will always be associated with a set of tragic events that happened in this park in 1944, at what was then Fort Lawton. In 2024, Friends of Discovery Park raised money to erect two park signs commemorating the 80th anniversary of these tragic events and the civil rights debacle that followed. You can find these two signs easily: one is on the “history wall” behind the Visitor Center (above photo); the other is visible just to the north of the loop trail’s post #17. What happened in 1944 was documented some years ago in the book On American Soil, but until Friends of Discovery Park led this effort in 2024, no signage existed in the place where the tragedy occurred.

The full text of the signs from the history wall:

SEGREGATION AT FORT LAWTON IN 1944

Until 1948, Seattle’s Fort Lawton—like all U.S. military installations—segregated its soldiers by race. During America’s involvement in World War II (1941-1945), Black soldiers’ barracks were restricted to the fort’s remote northwest section, where they were joined in May 1944 by a company of recent Italian prisoners of war.

TRAGIC EVENTS

On the night of August 14, 1944, a brief drunken fistfight between two soldiers—one American, one Italian—escalated into a full-fledged melee. Sometime that night, Italian Private Guglielmo Olivotto was lynched at an obstacle course at the base of a bluff. What followed was the largest U.S. Army court-martial of World War II.

Starting in November 1944, 43 Black American soldiers stood trial here at Fort Lawton. The prosecution, led by Lt. Col. Leon Jaworski (who later became the Watergate special prosecutor in the landmark 1974 case U.S. v Nixon), spent several months preparing the 1944 prosecution. The defense, led by Major William Beeks, was given just ten days to devise a defense for 43 men facing possible life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

After a five-week trial, 28 men were convicted of rioting; two others were found guilty of Olivotto’s homicide. All received prison terms and dishonorable discharges from the Army.

AN EGREGIOUS ERROR

In 2005, the book On American Soil revealed previously-classified inspector general reports questioning the Army’s investigation and prosecution. Legislation introduced by Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott prompted the Army to reopen the case. On October 22, 2007, the Board for Correction of Military Records ruled that Lt. Col. Leon Jaworski had committed “egregious error” in his prosecution of the case. The Board overturned the convictions, issuing honorable discharges and ordering back pay reparations.

On July 26, 2008, a ceremony here at Discovery Park honored the families of the exonerated veterans. Assistant Secretary of the Army Ronald James presented each family a formal letter of apology and a belated honorable discharge. Only one defendant, Samuel Snow of Leesburg, Florida, was able to travel to Seattle. Mere hours after he was honored, Mr. Snow passed away peacefully at the age of 84.

The Barracks sign is visible just to the north of the loop trail’s post #17 on the official Discovery Park Map.