Senate Resolution No. 69

Introduced by Senators Glazer, Hall, Huff, and Mitchell

March 15, 2016

Senate Resolution No. 69—Relative to the Port Chicago Disaster.

WHEREAS, On the night of July 17, 1944, two transport vessels
loading ammunition at the Port Chicago naval base on the
Sacramento River in California were suddenly engulfed in a
gigantic explosion, the incredible blast of which wrecked the naval
base and heavily damaged the town of Port Chicago, located 1.5
miles away; and

WHEREAS, Everyone on the pier and aboard the two ships was
killed instantly--some 320 American naval personnel, 200 of
whom were African American enlisted men; and another 390
military and civilian personnel were injured, including 226 African
American enlisted men; and

WHEREAS, The two ships and the large loading pier were
totally annihilated and an estimated $12,000,000 in property
damage was caused by the huge blast; and

WHEREAS, This single, stunning disaster accounted for nearly
one-fifth of all African American naval casualties during the whole
of World War II and was the worst home-front disaster of the war;
and

WHEREAS, The specific cause of the explosion was never
officially established by a Court of Inquiry, in effect clearing the
officers-in-charge of any responsibility for the disaster and, insofar
as any human cause was invoked, laying the burden of blame on
the shoulders of the African American enlisted men who died in
the explosion; and

WHEREAS, Following the incident, many of the surviving
African American sailors were transferred to nearby Camp
Shoemaker where they remained until July 31, 1944, when two of
the divisions were transferred to naval barracks in Vallejo near
Mare Island and another division returned to Port Chicago to help
with cleaning up and rebuilding the base; and

WHEREAS, Many of these men were in a state of shock,
troubled by the vivid memory of the horrible explosion; however,
they were provided no psychiatric counseling or medical screening,
except for those who were obviously physically injured; none of
the men, even those who had been hospitalized with injuries, were
granted survivor leaves to visit their families before being
reassigned to regular duties; and none of these survivors were
called to testify at the Court of Inquiry; and

WHEREAS, Captain Merrill T. Kline, Officer-in-Charge of Port
Chicago, issued a statement praising the African American enlisted
men and stating that “the men displayed creditable coolness and
bravery under those emergency conditions”; and

WHEREAS, After the disaster, white sailors were given 30
days’ leave to visit their families--according to survivors, this was
the standard for sailors involved in a disaster--while only African
American sailors were ordered back to work the next day to clean
and remove human remains; and

WHEREAS, After the disaster, the preparation of Mare Island
for the arrival of African American sailors included moving the
barracks of white sailors away from the loading area in order to
be clear of the ships being loaded in case of another explosion;
and

WHEREAS, The survivors and new personnel who later were
ordered to return to loading ammunition expressed their opposition,
citing the possibility of another explosion; the first confrontation
occurred on August 9, 1944, when 328 men from three divisions
were ordered out to the loading pier; the great majority of the men
balked, and eventually 258 were arrested and confined for three
days on a large barge tethered to the pier; and

WHEREAS, Fifty of these men were selected as the ringleaders
and charged with mutiny, and on October 24, 1944, after only 80
minutes of a military court, all 50 men were found guilty of
mutiny--l0 were sentenced to 15 years in prison, 24 sentenced to
12 years, 11 sentenced to 10 years, and 5 sentenced to 8 years; and
all were to be dishonorably discharged from the Navy; this was
the largest mass mutiny trial in the United States to this day; and

WHEREAS, After a massive outcry the next year, in January,
1946, 47 of the Port Chicago men were released from prison and
“exiled” for one year overseas before returning to their families;
and

WHEREAS, In a 1994 investigation, the United States Navy
stated that “there is no doubt that racial prejudice was responsible
for the posting of only African American enlisted personnel to
loading divisions at Port Chicago”; and

WHEREAS, In the 1994 investigation, the United States Navy,
prompted by Members of Congress, admitted that the routine
assignment of only African American enlisted personnel to manual
labor was clearly motivated by race; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress reduced the death
benefit to those killed in Port Chicago from $5,000, the normal
amount given, to $3,000, simply because the sailors were African
American; and

WHEREAS, In many cases, families of sailors killed in the
disaster were never told they were entitled to consideration for the
death of their relative; and

WHEREAS, In 2010, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine
Memorial site was designated as part of the National Park Service;
and

WHEREAS, Despite the gross injustice faced by these sailors,
only one of the men charged with mutiny was given a pardon by
President Clinton in 1998; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, That the Senate
urges the President and the Congress of the United States to take
all necessary action to restore honor to, and rectify the mistreatment
by the United States Military of, any sailors who were unjustly
blamed for and convicted of mutiny after the Port Chicago disaster,
which occurred in the town of Port Chicago, California, in 1944;
and be it further

Resolved, That the Senate further urges the President and the
Congress of the United States to take action to ensure that the
treatment of sailors by the United States Military after the Port
Chicago disaster is rectified by providing for the full exoneration
of all those who were wrongfully court-martialed and having the
military records of those involved cleared of any wrongdoing or
discharge references that were other than honorable, regardless of
whether those sailors are alive or deceased; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.