CENTREVILLE &045;&045; Allegations of the mass slaughter of black soldiers by military police at Camp Van Dorn in 1943 have never been proven. And the Army claims to have conducted an extensive study in 1999 refuting those allegations.

But military police were involved in at least one wrongful act at Camp Van Dorn, the Centreville Jeffersonian reported in its July 14, 1944 editions.

According to the report, Major Louis R. Lefkoff, 34, of Atlanta, was court-martialed and found guilty of ordering the flogging of several soldiers confined at the Camp Van Dorn stockade.

Testimony at Lefkoff’s trial showed six white prisoners and three black prisoners were beaten at Lefkoff’s command after being labeled &uot;trouble-makers.&uot;

Military police carried out the corporal punishment &045;&045; forbidden by the military &045;&045; after a stockade guard refused to comply with Lefkoff’s order, the report stated.

The news report said testimony showed Lefkoff &uot;stood outside the guardhouse while military policemen whipped the prisoners with rubber tubes weighted with 45-caliber bullets.&uot;

Lefkoff was sentenced to a year of confinement at hard labor, forfeiture of pay and dismissal from the service, the report stated.

In an editorial in the same edition, The Jeffersonian said the case was described as &uot;the first of its kind to come to light in the armed services during the current war.&uot;

The paper said Lefkoff’s conviction and sentence &uot;should help make it the last of its kind, as well.&uot;