Movement Continues to Honor Black WWII Veterans

Movement Continues to Honor Black WWII Veterans

For more than 15 years, Congressman George Miller of California has joined others in trying to clear the names of 50 black sailors charged with mutiny during World War II.  In the summer of 1944, Port Chicago, a navy base near San Francisco, was the scene of two devastating explosions. At that time, the United States Navy was segregated, and the loading of deadly ammunition was performed only by black sailors. These sailors were given no training for it.

After this terrible incident, the surviving seamen refused to load ammunition until they could be assured of their safety of their working conditions. Because of their refusal, they were court-martialed, convicted of mutiny and imprisoned until the end of the war.

Two of the 50 men who refused were Percy Robinson and Robert Routh. Recently they described their terrible experience…..

Routh became blind and Robinson suffered lacerations to his face, head and arms. I requested 30 days leave which you are entitled to if you are wounded, I was turned down, said Robinson.

Routh stated, My loss of sight was traumatic and no help was given. You can imagine the psychological impact it had on me.

Instead, the black men were given the gruesome task of collecting the remains of their fellow sailors. The white officers were granted 30-day leaves after the explosion, but none of the blacks were granted leaves in spite of their fears of another explosion.

After the war, a trial was held for these men who evaded the orders to go back to their dangerous jobs at sea. In the racially divided America of World War II, blacks and white liberals were enraged by the way blacks were treated in the military. A young NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyer named Thurgood Marshall was present at the trial, and he voiced the frustration and anger these men experienced. Because of his persistence, the sentences of the 50 black sailors were significantly reduced, but the mutiny convictions were not overturned.

Presently, there is a campaign to support a new stamp in memory of those who lost their lives at Port Chicago. If you are interested in supporting this campaign, contact your U.S. Representative and/or the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee Stamp Development , U.S. Postal Service. 1735 N. Lynn St. Room 5013, Arlington, Va. 22209-6432. For more information on an advocacy group that is working to clear the sailors’ mutiny convictions, visit www.equaljusticesociety.org/portchicago on the web.