[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 130 (Friday, August 1, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING MR. SAMUEL SNOW

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 31, 2008

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Mr. Samuel Snow from 
Leesburg, Florida. Mr. Snow is a hero and a role model for every 
American, and especially African-Americans. At a time when most people 
would have rightly succumbed to anger and bitterness, Samuel Snow stood 
taller than us all.
  Sixty-four years ago, Samuel and other African-American soldiers were 
accused and convicted of a crime they did not commit at Fort Lawton, in 
Seattle, one of the communities I represent. Last weekend, Assistant 
Secretary of the Army Ronald James came to Seattle to deliver an 
eloquent and heartfelt apology on behalf of the Army, and to honor the 
soldiers, including Samuel Snow, with honorable discharge plaques.
  Mr. Snow's son, Ray, stood in for his father when Samuel was 
hospitalized unexpectedly. After the ceremony in which I was honored to 
participate, Ray Snow took the honorable discharge plaque to a Seattle 
hospital, where he showed it to his father and read Samuel the 
inscription. According to Ray, his father smiled broadly as he held the 
plaque. A few hours later, Samuel Snow died with his family at his 
side. His son Ray would say: ``My dad has been standing in formation 
all these years waiting to have his name cleared. With the Army's 
honorable discharge he was at ease. He now has his discharge papers and 
he went home.''
  I am very proud to have had the honor and privilege of meeting and 
getting to know Samuel Snow, his family, and the families of the other 
soldiers whose fathers and grandfathers were falsely accused and 
convicted, and needlessly paid a heavy price for this racial injustice 
throughout their lives.
  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said: ``An injustice anywhere is a 
threat to justice everywhere. Samuel Snow lived to lead the fight 
against a racial injustice that is a stain on our nation's history.''
  Samuel Snow was a man full of courage and optimism who had a 
wonderful sense of humor and a deep well of courage and conviction. He 
knew what was right and just, and he died knowing that he had finally 
defeated the racial injustice that had tried, and failed, to strike him 
down.
  Samuel Snow raised a wonderful family and he lived a quiet, humble 
life working as a janitor, not once complaining about what might have 
been in life had he not been unfairly deprived of his GI benefits.
  Samuel Snow's life will inspire others to fight for what is right and 
just, and to never give up on the country he loved so much. I was 
privileged to stand in the company of a giant of a man and I am certain 
that Samuel Snow, an American hero, will not be forgotten.

                          ____________________