South Carolina
I am 27 years old, and a veteran of the United States Army, having served from the 12th of October, 1942 to the 12th of February, 1946, when I received an honorable discharge from Camp Gordon, Georgia.
I was discharged about 5:30 P.M. At 8:30 P.M. at the Greyhound Terminal in Atlanta, Georgia, while I was in uniform, I purchased a ticket to Winnsboro, South Carolina and took the bus headed there to pick up my wife to come to New York to see my father and mother. About one hour out of Atlanta the bus driver stopped at a small drug store. As he stopped, I asked him if he had time to wait for me until I had a chance to go to the rest room. He cursed and said, ‘No.’ When he cursed me, I cursed him back.
About half an hour later, when the bus got to Aiken, he stopped again and got off and went and got the police. He came back and came in the bus and came to me and said,’ Come outside for a minute,’ and I got off the bus. As I walked out, the bus driver started telling the police that I was the one that was disturbing the bus. When he said that, I started explaining to the police that I was not raising a disturbance on the bus, but they didn’t give me a chance to explain. The policeman struck me with a billy across my head and told me to ‘shut up.’
After that, he grabbed me by my left arm and twisted it behind my back, and walked me down the street, continually twisting my wrist. I figured he was trying to make [me] resist. I did not resist against him. He asked me was I discharged, and I told him,‘Yes.’ When I said, ‘Yes,’ that is when he started beating me with the billy; hitting me across the top of my head.
When we got to the door of the police station, he struck me again and knocked me unconscious. After I commenced to come to myself, he hollered, ‘Get up.’ When I started to get up, he started punching me in my eyes with the end of his billy.
Woodard, Isaac. (April 23, 1946). Sworn affidavit.