WWII vet awarded honorable discharge

by Sara K. Clarke

Samuel Snow fought for more than six decades for justice, and an honorable discharge from the Army.

He got it Saturday -- just hours before his death.

The 83-year-old Leesburg, Fla. veteran died early Sunday after receiving the long-awaited commendation. Snow was one of 28 black soldiers falsely convicted of starting a World War II riot that led to the lynching of an Italian prisoner of war at an Army base in Seattle.

"It meant giving him back his pride and dignity," said his son Ray Snow, 55. "It brought closure to a very sad part of his life."

Samuel Snow traveled to Seattle last week to receive his coveted discharge, but he was admitted to the hospital late Friday with heart trouble. He missed Saturday's ceremony, where relatives of the soldiers joined elected and military officials to hear the Army apologize before hundreds of people. But before he died, Snow heard an account of the event and was thrilled, his son said.

"I cannot describe the joy that radiated on his face," Ray Snow said.

Samuel Snow entered the Army as a teenager, dreaming of a military career that would pull him from poverty. Within a year, he was swept up in the largest and longest Army court-martial of the war.

Clarke writes for the Orlando Sentinel. Read the full story about the long-awaited honorable discharge at OrlandoSentinel.com.

(Photo at left of Snow his 1944 booking photograph: courtesy of the National Archives, NYT. Photo at right of Snow in 2007: courtesy of Tom Benitez/Orlando Sentinel.)