Pvt. McDonald is one of 19 soldiers of the 3rd battalion, 24th Infantry regiment who was executed by the Army for participation in the "Houston Riot" of 1917, and one of 17 buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.  The riot, and the trials which followed it, was a significant event in America's complicated racial history. To learn more, follow the link below  to read the interpretive sign which stands in the cemetery near the graves of these soldiers. 
 https://www.cem.va.gov/docs/wcag/history/signs/Fort-Sam-Houston-TX-Legacy-Houston-Mutineers-Interpretive-Sign.pdf

cropped photo of Houston Mutineers on trial

Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery

McDonald served as a cook, and was one of the 17 soldiers hanged for mutiny and rioting in Houston, TX - known as the "Houston Mutineers." However, more than 100 years after they were convicted of mutiny and murder and hanged for the 1917 Houston Riot, 17 Black soldiers have finally received military burial honors along with new headstones reflecting the honorable discharges the Army awarded them last year.
In a solemn ceremony held, Feb. 22, 2024, at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Department of Veterans Affairs and Army officials gathered with relatives of the soldiers, members of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, to honor their service and replace gravestones that had marked the men as unworthy of being in a veterans' cemetery.
Rather than focus on the history of the riot, the courts-martial that followed or the Army's decision last November to overturn the convictions, Thursday's ceremony aimed to restore "dignity, honor and respect" to the soldiers who were executed and more than 90 others who were wrongly convicted, said VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/u-s-army-corrects-miscarriage-of-justice-in-jim-crow-era-texas/



Private McDonald, thank you for your service, Soldier!  Our nation is indebted to you and your fellow Soldiers, and we will make sure your true legacy endures. 

THOMAS MCDONALD

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