Apology at last
Ronald J. James, an assistant Army secretary, delivers an official apology at Seattle’s Ft. Lawton to the families of 28 black World War II soldiers who were wrongly convicted in the 1944 lynching of an Italian prisoner. (Kevin P. Casey / For The Times)
Thelma Spann, widow of Luther Larkin, one of the soldiers found guilty in the lynching, listens as officials speak at the Army ceremony setting aside the 28 convictions and awarding honorable discharges. Larkin died in 1948. (Kevin P. Casey / For The Times)
Lashell Drake, granddaughter of wrongly convicted soldier Booker Townsell, gets a hug from Jack Hamann, whose 2005 book, On American Soil,” prompted an Army review of the 1944 case. (Kevin P. Casey / For The Times)
Six decades after Luther Larkin died, daughter Beverly Evans, widow Thelma Spann and grandchildren Elijah Evans and Camille Glaude see his name cleared. (Kevin P. Casey / For The Times)
Howard Noyd, 93, center, attends the ceremony at Ft. Lawton, where the Army apologized and set aside the convictions of the soldiers, only two of whom are alive. I didnt expect we would ever come to final justice, said Noyd, one of two defense lawyers assigned to the lynching case. (Kevin P. Casey / For The Times)
