Long before the civil rights era, a WWII soldier was killed over a bus seat

Long before the civil rights era, a WWII soldier was killed in Alexandria over a bus seat

: The grass at the side of the street (upper left) is all that remains of a bus stop where Odell Lachney (lower left), then a bus driver in Alexandria, killed Army Pvt. Edward Green in 1944 with this .45 Colt revolver pistol. (Bus stop photo: Miguel E. Paredes Reyes. Lachney and pistol photos: Courtesy of the Lachney family.)By Camille Milligan, Miguel E Paredes Reyes and Eli Latiolais This is the first of a two-part series. ALEXANDRIA  –“Don’t …

Long before the civil rights era, a WWII soldier was killed over a bus seat

This is the first of a two-part series.ALEXANDRIA, La. --Dont kill me, Ill get off, exclaimed Private Edward Green, a U.S. Army soldier, to bus driver Odell Lachney on March 13, 1944.It was the third public bus that Green, who had lived in New York City, tried to take that evening.He and a fellow soldier had sat down in the whites-only section in the front of the first bus, only to have that driver threaten Green with a club and demand they get …