On American Soil

In August 1944, one of the largest staging areas for American soldiers headed to the Pacific was Fort Lawton, an army base in Seattle. The army was segregated then, and the barracks housing the African American troops were isolated from the rest of the fort. Just yards away stood the barracks of a compnay of Italian prisoners of war, also segregated. The violent death of one of these prisoners launched the largest and longest army court-martial of World War II. The events surrounding this extraordinary trial—all but buried for more than a half century—are now recounted in this harrowing story of race, privilege, and power.