As the courts-martial sitting on the Selfridge Field cases worked down the defendants in rank, sentences rose in severity. The commanding colonel, William T. Colman got off lightest: demotion to captain (TIME, Sept. 27) for drunkenness and careless use of firearms in shooting a Negro private. A lieutenant colonel found guilty of drunkenness and fraudulent transfer of soldiers was ordered dismissed from the service. A major and a warrant officer also were sentenced to dismissal.
By last week the unsavory cases at the Michigan air base were concluded. The court ordered a...