🎥🎞🎬📽 Part II: The United States Secretary of the Navy Attends PORT CHICAGO EXPLOSION 80TH YEAR Ceremony, Exonerates 256 Black Sailors

Tony Harvey
10 minutes ago
8 min read

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro was the keynote speaker. He exonerated 256 Black sailors accused of mutiny when they refused to load munitions on ships due to safety concerns. July 20, 2024. PA photo by T. Ray Harvey.

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.PORT CHICAGO, Calif.

. PA Photo Art by T. Ray Harvey

80 Years After Deadly Explosion, United States Navy Exonerates 50 Black Sailors Unjustly Accused of Mutiny

🎨 🎥🎞🎬📽🎙✍️

Photos, Footage and Text by T. Ray Harvey | PA Public Information Officer

Additional Photo Art supplied by the

The United States Naval History and Heritage Command

and

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Port Chicago, Calif. — Three days after U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro posthumously exonerated the remaining 256 Port Chicago defendants who were court-martialed for mutiny in 1944 he visited the historical site to participate in the 80th-year commemoration of the worst homefront disaster in the country.

Del Toro, a Cuban American, said the momentous occasion at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine Memorial on the Suisun Bay, 35 miles north of San Francisco in Contra Costa County was two-fold. He said the 90-minute ceremony on July 20 was to honor all who perished in the blasts and officially announce the absolving of Black men who were unjustly court-martialed for refusing to load bombs on naval cargo ships during World War II due to safety concerns.

“This event marks a turning point in our nation’s history, a moment when we confront the ghosts of the past and embrace the promise of more justice,” Del Toro said. “For eight decades, the story of Port Chicago has been a stark reminder of a grave injustice. We as a nation will never be able to express our full gratitude to all deceased and their families for their dedication, service, and sacrifice.”

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro was the keynote speaker. He exonerated 256 Black sailors accused of mutiny when they refused to load munitions on ships due to safety concerns. July 20, 2024. PA photo by T. Ray Harvey.

On July 20, a diverse group of 500 people were shuttled in about one mile from the front entrance of the Military Ocean Terminal Concord (MOTCO) to the Port Chicago Naval Magazine Memorial where two explosions to deadly explosions lit up the sky on the night of July 17, 1944.

The ceremony was hosted with the National Park Service (NPS), Friends of Port Chicago National Memorial, and the U.S. Army’s 834th Transportation Battalion. The memorial. The event also marked the 30th year the site was erected as a memorial.

Along with Del Toro, dignitaries and elected officials in attendance were U.S. Congressmen John Garamendi (D-CA-08) and Thurgood Marshall Jr., whose father Thurgood Marshall sought justice for the Port Chicago 50, the Black men who were wrongfully convicted in the fall of 1944 of insubordination during World War II.

Kelli English, the NPS’s Sericewide Program Manager for Cooperating Associations and Partnerships, said tears from colleagues were flowing the day they heard about the exonerated men. English is part of the NPS crew that passionately conducts tours of the National Memorial and shares the history of the tragedy. Moving forward, she said they will continue to honor the men who perished and the sailors who had their names cleared of revolt.

“They should never have been court-martialed in some cases and convicted of other cases but it does provide some closures for the families and descendants of those men,” English told California Black Media. “It’s so important to us. It’s the only amount of justice delivered years after the fact.”

The blasts resulted in the death of 320 sailors, 202 of them Black American sailors who were loading nearly 5,000 tons of munitions from a train into the naval cargo ships. About 400 more people were injured and the cargo train and both ships – SS Quinault Victory and SS EA Bryan – were destroyed.

The explosion shook the San Francisco Bay and could be felt as far away as Nevada. The blasts damaged many surrounding structures and buildings in the nearby town of Port Chicago. In the mid-1960s, the United States government bought 5,000 acres of land in the Port Chicago area and the town ceased to exist by 1969.

The essence of this year’s commemoration of Port Chicago was what followed in the aftermath of the disaster.

“Today, we have corrected a historic wrong and we are proud of that in the Department of the Navy,” Del Toro said. “These men gave up so much in their death and in their sacrifice for those that survived the accidents afterward. They finally get true justice.”

The White officers in command were given hardship leaves while the surviving Black sailors were ordered to clear debris from the blasts and painfully retrieve the appendages of their fellow servicemen. The treatment of the Black sailors exemplified the racial policies manifested by the Navy.

Many surviving sailors were directed from the decimated area to 25 miles east to continue loading at Mare Island Naval Weapons Station in Vallejo. It was there on Aug. 9, 1944, when 258 Black Sailors refused the order of handling munitions due to inadequate training and fearing another explosion.

After threats of disciplinary action, 208 of the Sailors resumed work but it did not stop the Navy from convicting the men at a summary court-martial for rebellion. Over the years, two sailors had the charges expunged from their records, which left 256 convicted Black men.

Fifty of the Black sailors stood their ground and in September 1944 were found liable for mutiny, a serious offense that tarnished their military record. The 50 sailors were represented by Thurgood Marshall, who was the chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the disaster and racism in the Navy led to President Harry Truman desegregating all four branches of the military.

Ten years later, Marshall was able to win the monumental Brown v. Board of Education case that ruled separate but equal public schools were unconstitutional.

“It’s deeply moving to me that his work and the work of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund caught the attention of the sailors and the family involved in Port Chicago,” Marshall Jr. said of his father who later became a US Supreme Court Justice. “They contacted them for guidance and he was able to come out here to California to do what he did so well.”

Carol Cherry traveled from Chicago to attend the 80th ceremony. Her father Cyril Oscar Sheppard Jr. is now officially one of the 50 former mutineers. Cherry was presented with the ceremonial U.S. flag by the English.

Among the guests at the event was Richard Soublet, whose father Morris Soublet was of the 208 exonerated men who returned to loading munitions at Mare Island, citing “he had an obligation to defend his country,” his son said. Orval Adkins made the excursion from Texas to witness the ceremony. Her father died in the deadly blast.

Rev. Diana McDaniel, President of the Friends of Port Chicago National Memorial was one the guest speakers. Her uncle Irvine Lowery was one of the surviving Black sailors who was ordered to collect the remains of the deceased after the explosion. McDaniel told CBM that Lowery was injured in the blast when he was in the barracks but was not aware of it.

“(Lowery) said they worked for three days picking up body parts,” McDaniel said. “He didn’t know that he’d been injured until he laid down to go to sleep that he had glass in his back.”

Other speakers at the event included English, NPS Superintendent K. Lynn Berry, Supervisory Park Ranger, Hilary Grabowska, Lt. Col. Lauren Cabral, MOTCO Commander of the 834th Transportation Battalion, and Pittsburg (California) City Councilwoman Shanelle Scales-Preston.

Betty Reid Soskin (born Betty Charbonnet in 1921) was not one of the speakers at the event but the former NPS park ranger was in attendance just like she was 80 years ago when the explosions at Port Chicago pier rocked her home 26 miles away in Berkeley.

Soskins, 102, was a shipbuilders union clerk for the segregated Boilermaker’s A-36 when the weapons depot exploded at 10:18 p.m., that fateful day. She would tell people she toured around Port Chicago for NPS that at least eight Black sailors were at her residence partying in listening to jazz music and the sounds of the big bands.

Those men left the social activities called “lemonade parties” at Soskins’ dwelling to return to Port Chicago for duty. The only sailor Soskins could remember went by the name of “Richert,” who was 16 years old. Soskins said he faked his birth certificate to join the Navy.

“I have never known whether he survived (the explosions). That image of that young man continues to come up to me,” Soskins said in a 2010 Port Chicago documentary produced by Rodney Speed.

Notably, the anniversary of the explosion was dedicated to Dr. Robert L. Allen, who penned the book, “The Port Chicago Mutiny” which detailed the racial barriers the Black sailors endured during World War II. McDaniel said Allen’s research and advocacy led to the creation of the National Memorial in 1994. The Morehouse College graduate passed away on July 10, 2024, at the age of 82.

During the reception on the grounds of MOTCO, Marshall shared with Publicity Agents that he and Del Toro would privately tour the future site of the Thurgood Marshall Regional Park – Home of the Chicago 50 at the former Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS).

When built out, the public park will include 3,000 acres of open space that connects the city of Concord communities, a visitor center featuring the history of Port Chicago, and a recreational area for camping, biking, and picnics – all in honor of the NAACP civil rights lawyer and US Supreme Court Justice who helped defend 50 Black sailors.

An annex to Mare Island Naval Shipyard and Mare Island Naval Magazine in Vallejo, CNWS was built in 1942 and operated as a weapons storage depot that supplied naval ships at Port Chicago. It contained groups of magazines that stored explosives, gun ammunition, and a weapons laboratory. CWNS was fitted with a small field for aviation and a locomotive transport system for railcars. The Navy ceased operations there in 1999.

“Now that the men have been exonerated, we’re hoping development of this park gets sped up,” English told Publicity Agents. “It’s going to take a few years but it will be more than worth it.”

The exoneration closed one chapter to what is considered the worst disaster on the homefront of the United States but left one more section to fill. Del Toro said that some of the exonerated sailors or their families may not have been aware of the absolvement.

All 256 men will be honorably discharged and reconstituted with full benefits, he added. Del Toro asks for public assistance in alerting anyone connected to military personnel ordered back to loading munitions at the Mare Island Munitions Depot but created a significant work stoppage.

“I ask that all of you amplify the message so that we can get to many family members that we have not been able to reach to let them know what has occurred,” Del Toro told reporters. “We had officers present exoneration orders to one family and they didn’t know that their father had gone through this experience. He wouldn’t talk about it to his family.”

.Left, Historical photo loading a naval ship at Port Chicago Naval Magazine near San Francisco, California. Center, On the night of July 17, 1944, two explosions destroyed the Port Chicago pier and two ships docked at the location. Right, The site where the pier was located was constructed into a national memorial for visitors (Photo by the NAVY/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE).