San Francisco – The site of a munitions explosion that crippled the main West Coast port for the Pacific theater during World War II and killed 320 people – mostly black sailors – may become part of the National Park System.
A ceremony was set for Saturday to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the blast, which helped fuel a movement to desegregate the military because of treatment of the black survivors.
On Friday, U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., announced a measure that would make Port Chicago Naval Magazine eligible for federal funding for a visitor center.
“The events of July 17, 1944, are so important to our nation’s military and racial history that more Americans ought to be able to learn from it, to visit the historic site, and to know that it will be properly maintained for generations to come,” he said.
Although the base is already affiliated with the national parks, the new status would give the site increased visibility, Miller said of the bill.
It’s unclear what set off the blast that destroyed the two munitions ships anchored at the base, said Robert Allen, a University of California at Berkeley professor.
“Anyone who was close enough to see what happened didn’t survive,” he said. “It was the worst home-front tragedy of World War II.”
Most of the dead were black sailors who loaded heavy bombs, ammunition and other explosives onto ships. They were given no formal training in handling hazardous materials, Allen said.
White survivors who asked for a month’s leave were granted the time off, Allen said. The black seamen were ordered to clean up the debris, he said.
Percy Robinson had been in the barracks when the blaze of more than 5,000 tons of explosives going off at once in the nighttime sky made him turn to the windows. A fraction of a second later, a blast of air blew the panes into the room.
The retired sailor, 82, said he raised his left arm to protect his eyes, but the rest of his face and upper body were cut so badly that a friend did not recognize him.
“They patched me up and told me to get back to work. I could walk, so I could work,” he said.
The blast further angered men already frustrated by the circumstances in which they were living and working. In response, 258 ammunition loaders, all of them black, defied orders to return to work in the same unsafe conditions, Robinson said.
The Navy responded by imprisoning all of them for three days on a barge on San Pablo Bay that was outfitted to hold 75 people, Allen said. The sailors were told that if they did not obey orders, they would be charged with mutiny.
All but 50 men backed down. They withstood a month-long military trial and were found guilty by white officers after an 80-minute deliberation, Allen said. Each of the sailors got 15 years in federal prison.
