[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 16, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E25]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN TRIBUTE TO MR. BOOKER TOWNSELL

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GWEN MOORE

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 16, 2008

  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. 
Booker Townsell. Mr. Townsell was falsely accused along with 42 other 
African-American soldiers for rioting and lynching an Italian POW at 
Fort Lawton, an Army base in Seattle in 1944. It was the largest and 
longest Army courts-martial of World War II. Mr. Townsell was 
ultimately court-martialed and convicted with 27 others and served two 
years in prison. After 63 years, Booker Townsell has been fully 
exonerated. Mr. Townsell was not able to see this travesty reversed 
having died in 1984 at the age of 69. However, his family persevered 
until he was fully exonerated for a crime he did not commit.
  Members of Mr. Townsell's family learned of Jack Hamann's, 2005 book, 
``On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II'', 
which chronicled the Fort Lawton court martial. The Townsell family 
contacted Hamann and was the first to petition the Army to reverse the 
conviction. The Army Review Board required each family to apply 
individually for a review. Bipartisan requests were made in Congress to 
review the case. In October, 2007, an Army review board, acting on 
evidence uncovered by Hamann's book, overturned Townsell's conviction. 
The analysis used to reverse Townsell's conviction would apply to all 
of the soldiers convicted, an Army lawyer who reviewed the case for the 
review board told The New York Times.
  Hamann's investigation uncovered racial bias against the soldiers, 
including charges being brought immediately without the benefit of full 
counsel which led to their unfair convictions. This incredible story 
also involves Leon Jaworski, a young lieutenant who prosecuted the case 
for the Army and later served as special prosecutor in the Watergate 
case. Hamann discovered that Jaworski failed to share evidence with 
defense lawyers that could have exonerated the black soldiers. Hamann 
said it seemed suspicious that black soldiers in 1944 would participate 
in a lynching, given the racial attitudes in America at the time. 
According to his research, no black person had ever been put on trial 
for a lynching until then.
  A lawyer who specializes in military affairs helped the Townsell 
family with their petition to the Army review board. The decision that 
overturned Townsell's conviction was a sweet victory for justice in our 
country.
  On January 19th 2008, the family will celebrate their legal victory 
with a ceremony attended by Army officials to recognize the overturning 
of this conviction after 63 years. I am honored to have this 
opportunity to pay tribute to Mr. Townsell and to his family. Mr. 
Townsell's good name has now been restored.

                          ____________________