A Military Salute

Abstract

Recent efforts of military lawyers to provide representation for those “detained” at Guantanamo bring to mind an earlier example of professional moral courage. On July 2, 1942, President Roosevelt proclaimed the appointment of a military commission to try the eight German saboteurs who had been delivered to the United States by German submarines only to be captured, perhaps because two of them had informed on the others. As an addendum to his proclamation, the President appointed two colonels to represent the eight accused in the proceeding, which was to be held immediately.