Port Chicago Explosion: The Largest WWII Homeland Disaster

On my previous post I discussed Operation Crossroads and included a controversial photo of an atomic bomb test cake.  A reader named Shirley Wilson, a professional cake designer from San Francisco, linked the plight of the sailors in an incident to the Montford Point Marines. I posted a portion of her comment and asked my readers if they knew about the incident in question. 

Some of my scholarly viewers automatically answered to themselves "Port Chicago."

Similarly, other scholarly viewers collectively shared a blank response. The incident was not publicized and was buried for over fifty years. It took investigations and testimonials to uncover this homeland disaster that became both a civil and human rights case. There now is a Port Chicago Naval Magazine Memorial.  So if you Googled and asked for help, or a lifeline, I will understand, because I myself didn't know about the case. Here is the fascinating story of Port Chicago...

Port Chicago Explosion: The Largest WWII Homeland Disaster

nps.gov

Port Chicago Naval Magazine was a segregated naval base located 40 miles east of San Francisco, CA. Black men were required to load ammunition and bombs onto ships. Ships were headed out to Pacific Rim troops during World War II. The Allies were desperate to stop the Japanese and other Axis powers that were raging massive destruction.

After World War I, the Navy excluded African Americans and replaced them with Filipinos. In 1932, the Navy permitted Blacks, but only in menial positions and of course, not as officers. Port Chicago had 1,400 Black enlisted men, 71 officers, 106 Marine Guards and 230 civilian employees. (Usmm.org)

sfgate.com

It was critical to load the Liberty and Victory ships 24 hours around the clock. Tragically, pressure was on to quickly dispatch munitions without any regard for safety or specialty training. It was reported that the enlisted men even waged contests to increase their output. The Black men toiled long hours and worked without facial masks to protect them from toxic dust. Furthermore, their supervisors were White officers who harbored discriminatory attitudes towards them. Navy survivor Morris Soublet* reported being called "boy" and the group of Negro men as "you people." 

usatoday.com

Can you imagine working in not only a hostile work environment, but employed around highly combustible materials, with no instruction on how to properly handle the munitions, and commanded to move quickly? The Black enlistees had some fears about working with the materials but blocked them out after the officers told them they would be safe "because the bombs did not have detonators on them." Clearly all these elements were a dangerous recipe for disaster. 

The E. A. Bryan had been moored at Port Chicago for four days, taking on ammunition and explosives night and day. Some 98 men of Division Three were hard at work loading the Bryan, and by 10:00 p.m. on 17th July the ship was loaded with some 4,600 tons of munitions including 1,780 tons of high explosives. (rense.com)

Rense.com also states:

In addition to the enlisted men present, there were nine Navy officers, 67 members of the crews of the two ships along with an Armed Guard detail of 29 men, five crew members of a Coast Guard fire barge, a Marine sentry and a number of civilian employees. The pier was congested with men, equipment, a locomotive, 16 railroad boxcars, and about 430 tons of bombs and projectiles waiting to be loaded. 

On that fateful day in July 17, 1944, a powerful explosion occurred and it registered 3.4 Richter scale. In fact, people that survived in the area and miles beyond thought an earthquake occurred. A large mushroom like cloud appeared and .an airplane pilot flying reported seeing debris pass by the size of a house. The blast was felt 200 miles away. Windows were shattered and structures in the town of Port Chicago were damaged. The death toll was 320 men (200 Black), and 390 Military and civilians injured. (233 Black). Property damage was 12 million dollars, a staggering sum at the time. 

nps.gov

The grim task of recovering bodies, attending funerals and memorials took place immediately after the tragedy. Amazingly enough, the White officers were praised and allowed leave, but the Black enlisted men were not. Surviving Black enlistees were sent to load another ship. The workers refused to work in such hazardous conditions. What happened next became the largest Naval mutiny trial in history, known as the Port Chicago Mutiny.

The Port Chicago Explosion is known as the largest WWII Homeland Disaster. Conspiracy theorists point to classified documents and describe the "mushroom cloud" that appeared; individuals involved in the creation of these bombs referred to subsequent explosions as "Port Chicago-like" explosions. 

What feelings do you have when you look at some of these pictures? What would you do if you were an enlisted man? Please share this post and don't forget to sign up to be notified for future posts.(Or subscribe via "Feedly")

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Next up: "Port Chicago Mutiny"

abc.net.au

Portchicagoexplosionblogspot.com
Port Chicago Naval Magazine Memorial 

Notes: 

wikipedia.org

history.com
ussmm.org
rense.com

*An Exploration of Our History: Port Chicago Video

See also:
Executive Order 8802 Bans Discrimination in The Defense Industry
Dad Decides to Become A Marine
Early African American Military Experiences

Executive Order 8802 Bans Discrimination In the National Defense Industry

On June 25, 1941 months before Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802. Executive Order 8802 banned discrimination in the National Defense Industry. The President's official statement accompanying the bill was as follows: "The democratic way of life within the nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups." Roosevelt was prompted into signing this law by his wife Eleanor Roosevelt, a tireless champion for Black advancement. His decision was also spurred by civil rights activists such as A. Phillip Randolph.  Randolph had threatened a March on Washington.


Consequently, the United States Marine Corps could no longer prohibit Blacks from joining their ranks. Blacks since the Civil War had been recruited to join the Army and the Navy, but were excluded by the Marines. The 100 plus year policy of exclusion of Blacks was now mandated to change after FDR's signing of Executive Order 8802.

Howard P. Perry, First Black Marine Recruit
Source: archives.gov

The first Black recruit was Howard P. Perry of Charlotte, North Carolina. He arrived to Montford Point on August 26, 1942, and in September he and 119 other privates began the arduous process of becoming Marines.  - National gov. archives

These Marines were assigned "special housing" at Montford Point. They were not allowed to go to Camp Lejeune unless they were accompanied by a White Marine. Reported Montford Point Marine, Thomas S. Turner, "they didn't want us in there to begin with. They referred us as "you people" as if we were some type of animals. It was rough, but we survived."  -phillytrib.com

Executive Order 8802 enabled African Americans such as my father to obtain employment in defense factories.* Thousands of Blacks were able to work in defense factories and help our nation at war. Dad was then encouraged to become a Montford Point Marine by James Huger, who worked for the War Department. Furthermore, Blacks could then procure middle class life styles. Executive Order 8802 became an impetus to desegregate other institutions in the future.

In essence, the contributions of all Americans were needed in the war effort. Months before Pearl Harbor and the United State's entry into World War II, policy makers believed that the contributions of African Americans were necessary. The Montford Point Marines were a result of Executive Order 8802. It essentially banned discrimination in the National Defense Industry. But we know that the Montford Point Marines were in fact, discriminated, since their training facility was segregated and their treatment received was less than honorable.

Source: Airspace.si.edu

Notes: Executive Order 8802 did not extend to Japanese Americans; many were placed in internment camps during WWII.


Sources: lejeuene.marines.mil,www.phillytrib.com,www.veteransunited.com

* See Previous Related Posts:

The Person Who Influenced Dad's Decision to Become a Marine
Dad's Arrival in Connecticut

Why the 51st Defense Battalion Were Sent to the Marshall Islands to Fight

"There were these guys from Chicago...they dated the young women from the islands. They had wigs and high heels sent in for these women to wear," my father explained when I was older. "All you could see were these women trying to walk around in those high heels, because they weren't used to wearing them."

Source:  http://miraimages.photoshelter.com

I pictured these young ladies teetering awkwardly in platform sandals in the sand. No nylons because nylons were rationed, the materials were needed for the war effort.  Some of American women's hosiery back then had seams on the back of their legs. Resourceful females would take eyebrow pencils, brown gravy, charcoal, etc. and draw makeshift lines on the back of their legs to give the allusion of seams. Special flesh colored make up was applied to look like nylon.

Source:matc.edu
Seamless hosiery. Nylons were needed to make parachutes.

The Marshallese were Micronesian in origin and migrated from Asia several thousand years ago. They were an island group that was (2,500) miles from Hawaii. Its inhabitants lived on the outer islands and atolls. The islanders survived on subsistence farming and fishing. Many had no electricity.

Source: nationsonline.org

Marine Major General Charles F.B. Price, in command of American Forces in Samoa had already warned against sending the African Americans there. He based his opinions on his interpretation of the science of genetics. The light skinned Polynesians, whom he considered "'primitively romantic" by nature, had mingled freely with Whites to produce a very high class half caste, and liaisons with Chinese had resulted in a very desirable type of offspring. *

Two Montford Point Marines Black Depot companies that were originally supposed to be sent to Samoa were sent elsewhere due to Major's genetics reasoning. The "infusion of Negro blood" was not desired.


Based on the Major's belief system, which incidentally was common during this time period, the 51st Defense Battalion were thought to be better suited in the Marshall Islands, since the darker population of Micronesians would not be intimidated by the intelligence of the African American Marines sent there. Major General Charles F.B. Price also postulated that  "the level of physical and mental standards among the Black islanders would be raised."



These considerations were similar to the displeasure of African American soldiers socializing with French women during World War I. In this case the policy was instituted to prevent liaisons with the lighter hued Polynesians in the Pacific. Hence the deployment to the Marshall Islands, where the natives had darker pigmentation.

Source: rmiembassyus.org
Residents of the Bikini Atoll during evacuation. The island became the site of Post WWII nuclear testing.

Source: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003132-00/sec5.htm

World War I Galvanizes African American Women

African American women did not sit at home absentmindedly twiddling their thumbs during World War I. As a matter of fact, Black women were galvanized into becoming social activists, community organizers, and laborers. They held rallies throughout the country to support " their" troops emotionally.  During the years of the WWI, women advocated for greater pay and better working conditions. They participated in the Anti-Lynching movement and the Suffrage Movement. Finally, African American women were able to expand their employment opportunities.



Lynching was a system primarily based in the South to instill fear in enslaved Blacks, and then Blacks after Emancipation. If a Black man was considered "uppity" or getting out of hand, he could be "lynched", which was a public hanging. It was a "must see" for evil and racist spectators, and many would brag about going to one as if it was an entertainment event. Children were brought to lynchings and individuals were reported "smiling and waving at the camera."  Trumped up charges, minor infractions, retribution, punishment, etc. were all used to spread fear and keep African Americans in place. On some occasions, even pregnant females were lynched. These atrocities continued for centuries. The role of the Negro Press was instrumental in shedding light on this disturbing practice. Black leaders and clergy men dedicated a significant portion of their lives in ending this inhumane practice.

Related to lynching were brutal attacks and assaults on African Americans. The turning point for the Civil Rights Movement was Emmett Till, a fourteen year old boy who was assaulted, eyes gouged out, and shot in the back of the head for reportedly flirting with a white married woman. His body was dumped into a river and his assailants were acquitted and released. Emitt Till was a young boy visiting relatives in Mississippi  from Chicago, IL. His body was returned to Chicago where newspaper photographs of his open casket funeral shocked and outraged the nation. Till's case was in 1958, and forced America to examine its disturbing history of racial violence. An entertainer made the callous mistake of insensitively referencing Emitt Till in a song lyric recently, which resulted in negative publicity and a major endorsement deal loss. (Source: heroism.org)


Blues singer Billie "Lady Day" Holiday's (1915-1959) famous song  about lynching is called "Strange Fruit".
Writers: Abel Meeropol and Laura Duncan

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

                                                             
This song was recorded by Holiday in 1939. "Strange Fruit" is believed to be the first anti-racism song and later inducted inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978.   Source: theguardiannews.com                                                           
                                                            




Suffrage
It is hard to believe that half of the United States population did not have the right to vote. Females were considered intellectually inferior, overly emotional, and not capable of making political decisions. Women were viewed as second class citizens and property. They were not granted the right to vote until August 26, 1920. The 19th Amendment of the US Constitution allowed women the right to vote. It was a battle that took over 100 years, since the first Women's Right's Convention was held in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848.* (The 15th Amendment supposedly guaranteed the right for Black men to vote; but illegal, flagrant, violations led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965). Black women willingly participated in the Suffrage Movement.




Employment Opportunities
From the book, "Women, War, and Work: The Impact of Women Workers in the United States, by Maurine Weiner Greenwald, Interview by Helen Ross, 1918, Sante Fe Railroad:

What occupation is open to us where we can make really good wages? We are employed as clerks, we cannot see any use in working our parents to death to get educated. Of course we should like easier work than this if it were opened to us, but this pays well and is no harder than other work open to us with three dollars a day, we can buy bonds, we can dress decently and not be tempted to find our living on the streets. (From historymatters.gmued/d/5331)

Some of the positions that African American women became employed in as a result of WWI included laborers, and railroad workers. This consisted of cleaning railroad cars, wiping engines, and tending railroad beds.These  positions were a far cry from standard domestic work and enabled women to expand their working possibilities. Eighty Percent of African American Women were employed as domestics in the United States. After 1915, they were now receiving training to become clerical workers.**  Women advocated for better wages, and seamstresses went on strike.

Source: exhibitionsnypl.org

Also, in 1917, the co-founder of the Red Cross urged Black nurses to join the American Red Cross. They were not accepted until two months before the war ended in November 1918. These women served by making bandages and working in hospitals. The women also wrote letters home for illiterate soldiers, read mail sent to them, and worked in troop centers. (Source: www.womensmemorial.org)

My dad, a Montford Point Marine who served with the 51st Battalion, had a negative experience with white Red Cross workers which I will describe in the future. In fact, in reading newspaper articles from other members of Montford Point, they cited the same incidents, a memory that lasted for most of their lifetimes. I think of all of the injustices these World War II soldiers suffered, this ranks among the top five.


Anti Lynching Advocate/Journalist/Educator Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) worked for the National Equal Rights Organization and requested President Woodrow Wilson to put an end to discrimination in hiring jobs for the US government. Ida B. Wells established an African American kindergarten. She was a newspaper editor and journalist. Wells was a  fearless crusader against inequality despite threats against her life.

Source: Biography.com

Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was inspired by soldiers returning from World War I into becoming a pilot. In 1918 this was primarily a domain for privileged, wealthy white men. Her brother's disparaging remarks motivated Coleman into pursuing a pilot's license. Determined, Bessie Coleman took her savings and enrolled in flight school in France, since she was repeatedly denied admittance into flight school in the United States due to her race. Coleman thrilled thousands of spectators over the years with her exciting air shows and received acclaim for her bold accomplishments. The first Black female aviator died tragically in an air show accident in Jacksonville, Florida. Coleman's favorite role model, Ida B.Wells, presided over her funeral. Both of theses trailblazers were honored many decades later with United States Postal stamps. (www.pbsorg/wgbh/amexflygirls/peopleevents/paradeamex02.html)

Source: firstflight.org

The Great War, then, was certainly an impetus for African American to join the work force, to fight for equal rights, to organize and flex their political, social and economic muscles. Women such as Journalist/Equal Rights Advocate Ida B. Wells, and organizations such as the Red Cross, The YWCA and various auxiliary groups broke barriers for the rights of all. Their collective voices led to sweeping reforms that changed policy and created legislation. And in the case of aviatrix Bessie Coleman, World War I introduced endless possibilities....

*source: history.com
** source: exhibitions, nypl.org

Jim Crow and Segregation

                                                                 Source: socialstudiesforkids.com



Can you imagine living your entire adult life making a sacrifice for your country and not even being acknowledged? Some people get upset when they hold open the door for someone and they don't even get a thank you. Or when driving, a driver might let another car enter in front of them in traffic. Where is the courtesy wave, you might ask? The door and driving incidents are slights that one can basically brush off. But putting your human life on the line is pretty serious. The thousands of African American who enlisted in the Marines during the 1940's did so willingly, and my father insisted that he wanted to serve as a soldier in combat.

What is also interesting to note is that the United States had Jim Crow Laws, which were laws that prohibited Blacks from living in certain neighborhoods, to work in certain occupations, or to eat in restaurants. Segregation was the law of the land and water fountains, rest rooms, movie theaters, schools, buses, and trains insured that races were kept apart. Interracial marriages were illegal and a Negro could be arrested if they broke these laws. Jim Crow Laws were intense in the South, where slavery had a stronghold. The South was considered the area of the country below the Mason- Dixie in Maryland. Northern states, which did not allow slavery had discrimination as well, but the discrimination was less intense, covert and subtle.

When discussing Jim Crow with my students, many of them wondered why Blacks were treated so badly during these times. I would explain that in order to enslave someone, you had to make them feel inferior. You  had to make sure that their living conditions were substandard, and not allow them to read or congregate. Families were separated. Rules were established to make Negros "know their place". Tragically, Negros were beaten if they did not obey their slave masters.

The Civil War (1861-1865) was fought to preserve the country, because Southern states seceded over the issue of slavery. Enslaved Africans provided free labor for wealthy Southern plantation owners. Blacks worked long hours picking cotton and farming, creating a thriving economy. Enslaved Africans often tried to escape slavery by fleeing to the North. Sophisticated networks and codes were enabled to outsmart slave owners and slave catchers. Both Northern Blacks and Whites participated in the Abolitionist Movement, a movement that included women to officially end slavery. Once the Civil War ended and slaves were free, the same Segregation Laws persisted. Montford Point Marines were/are descendants of enslaved Africans. Such were the conditions that many of Montford Point Marines grew up in: discrimination and Jim Crow.

                                                           " Separate But Not Equal"                      
                                                               Source: worldfamousphotos.com

But despite this, Montford Point Marines signed up to be a recruits. They signed up and served their country even though they were treated like second class citizens. The Montford Point Marines were some of the  brightest African American men selected.  According to my dad, he loved his dress blue Marine Uniform. He was proud to wear it when he returned to Florida, but it was challenging to wear the heavy wool jacket in the humid weather!  He wore it during a visit  home in July, parading his uniform up and down Second Avenue in Daytona.

Introduction

Hello all! This is my first post about the Montford Point Marines and  I decided to keep it brief. It is the day after Thanksgiving and I am at my parents house in Connecticut. When you walk into our split level home it is like entering a shrine, because my father is a Montford Point Marine and he received a Congressional Medal of Honor in June of 2012. Inside our living room besides the stacks of Jet and Ebony Magazines, VFW, (Veterans of Foreign War) there are special items in glass cases and frames. There is his special United States Flag, and  letters from our House of Representatives and one of our Senators. There is another official letter from the US Speaker of the House as well. Photos of my dad are displayed, along with the red, white and blue ribbon that held his Medal of Honor. The actual medal is in a safe deposit box ( My father is no fool.)
Did you know it is a felony to steal a Medal of Honor from a recipient? I also posted an image of the medal; bronze replicas are available from the US Mint  from collectors. Some of you are curious about the Montford Point Marines so as a regular reader to this blog you will be privy to my information. Happy Holiday Season!

DLP