West Virginia governor fires corrections officers over Nazi salute

All 34 cadets from the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation who posed in a class photo raising their hands in a Nazi salute will reportedly be fired, the state’s governor announced Monday.

Gov. Jim Justice’s decision followed a state probe that found the class had been giving Nazi salutes since early on in their five-week training, according to a summary of the probe obtained by the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

However, the report also said there was no racist intent from the cadets because they did not fully grasp the gesture’s historical meaning.

Three academy staff were axed and four instructors were suspended without pay following an investigation by the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety into the photo from “Basic Training Class #18.”