Only two out of 28 the soldiers are still alive, but the Army is finally pardoning them — with honorable discharges and back pay — for a 1944 conviction for a riot that ended in the lynching of an Italian P.O.W. An Army review board recently ruled was "fundamentally unfair."

Although only two Italians could identify their attackers, 43 black soldiers were tried in a combined trial. All of them were represented by two defense lawyers, including Howard Noyd, who is now 92 and living in Bellevue.

Noyd recalled Friday that he had about 10 days to prepare, not enough time to even interview all the defendants.

Defense lawyers were also denied access to an Army inspector general's investigation, which included suggestions that the white military policeman might have been involved in the lynching. Yet the prosecutors were able to draw from evidence in the "confidential" report.

"It was a very critical point," Noyd said. "We wanted all the investigation that the government was using, and we were denied that privilege."

In the end, 28 of the soldiers, including Snow, were convicted of rioting. Two were convicted of manslaughter in Olivotto's death.

Snow served a year in the brig. Other soldiers served as many as 25 years.

According to the Seattle Times this sort of mass pardoning is unprecedented but shows an encouraging willingness on the part of the Army to correct past wrongdoings.

[ST]