1 of 2 | Sailors load munitions at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in 1943-1944 at Port Chicago, Calif. On Wednesday, which was the 80th anniversary of an explosion that killed 320 people, the U.S. Navy exonerated 256 Black sailors who were “unjustly tried and convicted of mutiny.” Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy/National Park Service
July 17 (UPI) — The U.S. Navy exonerated 256 Black sailors Wednesday, on what was the 80th anniversary of the Port Chicago explosion in California, for their unjust punishment following the deadly World War II-era blast that killed 320 people.
“Today, the U.S. Navy is righting an historic wrong by announcing the exoneration of 256 Black sailors who were unjustly tried and convicted of mutiny and disobeying orders following the tragic explosion at Port Chicago, Calif., nearly 80 years ago,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday.
On July 17, 1944, two U.S. Navy ships at the port were destroyed while the S.S. E.A. Bryan cargo ship was being loaded with ammunition. It was the deadliest home-front disaster in the United States during WWII.
“In the wake of the tragedy, Black sailors were required to clean up the carnage and return to the dangerous work of handling munitions without adequate training and protective equipment while White sailors were granted leave,” Biden said.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, who announced the exoneration Wednesday, said the sailors’ court martial contained “significant legal errors that rendered them fundamentally unfair.”
“Yet, for 80 years, the unjust decisions endured. Now, I am righting a tremendous wrong that has haunted so many for so long.”
None of the sailors exonerated Wednesday lived to see their court-martials vacated, but their families are grateful.
“We are so delighted. Our dad would be very happy about this. The men and their families are all very deserving of acknowledgment and exoneration. That’s the biggest thing,” Carol Cherry told CBS News Chicago.
“The dangers under which those sailors were performing their duties, loading those ammunition ships without the benefit of proper training or equipment. Also being requested to load those ships as quickly as they possibly could without any sense of the dangers that itself would present, it’s just an injustice that, you know, is just wrong,” Del Toro told CBS.
The sailors who refused to return to work were court-martialed, convicted of mutiny and sentenced to punishments ranging from confinement to years of hard labor. Most of the sailors were released and granted clemency by 1946, leading to a national campaign for racial equality.
“The Port Chicago sailors’ non-violent civil disobedience — an act which would later become a hallmark of the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s — directly resulted in the desegregation of our Armed Forces,” said Yulia Padre, director of the Port Chicago Alliance.
To honor the 80th anniversary of the explosion, a four-day “Port Chicago Weekend” will be held through Sunday in Concord, Pittsburg, Vallejo and Oakland where a theatrical performance of the “Port Chicago 50” story can be seen and relatives’ firsthand accounts can be heard.
“This decision clears their names, restores their honor and acknowledges the courage they displayed in the face of immense danger,” Del Toro wrote Wednesday in a post on X.
“The Port Chicago 50, and the hundreds who stood with them, may not be with us today, but their story lives on.”