Nexus - 0304 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Everyone on the pier and aboard the two ships was killed The search for bodies was grim work. One survivor recalled the instantly—some 320 men, 200 of whom were black enlisted men. experience: Very few intact bodies were recovered. Another 390 military and "| was there the next morning. We went back to the civilian personnel were injured, including 226 black enlisted men. dock. Man, it was awful; that was a sight. You'd see a This single, stunning disaster accounted for almost one-fifth of all shoe with a foot in it, and then you'd remember how you'd black naval casualties during the whole of World War II. Property joked about who was gonna be the first one out of the damage, military and civilian, was estimated at more than US$12 hold. You'd see a head floating across the water—just the million. head—or an arm. Bodies...just awful." The E. A. Bryan was literally blown to bits. Very little of its Some 200 black enlisted men volunteered to remain at the base wreckage was ever found. The Quinalt Victory was lifted clear and help with the clean-up operation. out of the water by the blast, tumed around and broken into pieces. Three days after the disaster, Captain Merrill T. Kinne—officer- The largest piece of the Quinalt Victory which remained after the —_ in-charge of Port Chicago—issued a statement praising the black explosion was a 65-foot section of the keel, its propeller attached, enlisted men for their behaviour during the disaster. Stating that which protruded from the bay at low tide, the men acquitted themselves with "great 1,000 feet from its original position. credit", he added, "Under those emergency There was at least one 12-ton diesel loco- conditions, regular members of our comple- motive operating on the pier at the time of |: es * ment and volunteers from Mare Island dis- the sehe Not a pica piece of the Not a single piece of played creditable coolness and bravery." locomotive car was ever identified: the | the locomotive Car locomotive simply vanished. In the river | : stream, several small boats half a mile dis- THE AFTERMATH was ever identified; Four days after the Port Chicago disaster, tant from the pier reported being hit by a 30- * See on 2Ist July 1944 a Naval Court of Inquiry foot wall of water. the locomotive simply was convened to "inquire into the circum- In an interview, one of the men described pa Fase stances attending the explosion". The his experience of the disaster: vanished. inquiry was to establish the facts of the situa- sudden et cre tao toptee, | MMMMMMMRMRMMMIGIOMIIEE) Sorcery ge cue cr cms os ts de, The first one knocked me clean off... | several small boats ter. The inquiry lasted 39 days and some found myself flying toward the 3) se, 125 witnesses were called to testify. wall. | just threw up my hands half a mile distant However, only five black witnesses i i it . : ve led tify— th the next one came right behing fam from the pier reported Fey en ina wouta later vesitceturning that. Phoom! Knocked me back being hi by a 30-foot to work because of unsafe practices. on the other side. Men were The Court heard testimony from sur- screaming, the lights went out j wall of water. and glass was flying all over the place. | got out to the door. Everybody was...that thing had...the whole building was others. turned around, caving in. We The question of Captain Kinne's ton- were a mile and a half away from the ships. And so the nage-figures blackboard—and the competition it encouraged— first thing that came to my mind, | said, ‘Jesus Christ, the came up during the proceedings. Kinne attempted to justify this as Japs have hit!' 1 could have sworn they were out there simply an extension of the Navy's procedure of competition in tar- pounding us with warships or bombing us or something. get practice. He contended that it did not negatively impact on But one of the officers was shouting, ‘It's the ships! It's the safety, and implied that junior officers who said it did, did not ships!' So we jumped in one of the trucks and we said, know what they were talking about. vivors and eyewitnesses to the explo- sion, other Port Chicago personnel, ordnance experts, inspectors who checked the ships before loading, and ‘Let's go down there, see if we can help.' We got halfway The Court also heard testimony concerning the fuelling of the down there on the truck and stopped. Guys were shouting vessels, possible sabotage, defects in the bombs, problems with at the driver from the back of the truck, ‘Go on down. the winches and other equipment, rough handling by the enlisted What the hell are you staying up here for?' The driver men, and organisational problems at Port Chicago. says, ‘Can't go no further.' See, there wasn't no more But the specific cause of the explosion was never officially dock. Wasn't no railroad. Wasn't no ships. And the water __ established by the Court of Inquiry. Anyone in a position to have just came right up to...all the way back. The driver could- actually seen what caused the explosion did not live to tell about n't go no further. Just as calm and peaceful. | didn't even it. see any smoke." Although there was testimony before the Court about competi- Rescue assistance was rushed from nearby towns and other mili- _ tion in loading, this was not listed by the Court (or the Judge tary bases. The town of Port Chicago was heavily damaged by the | Advocate) as in any way a cause of the explosion (although the explosion but fortunately none of its citizens was killed, although —_ court saw fit to recommend that, in future, "the loading of explo- many suffered injuries. sives should never be a matter of competition"—a small slap on During the night and early morning, the injured were removed __ the hands of the officers). to hospitals and many of the black enlisted men were evacuated to Thus, the Court of Inquiry in effect cleared the officers-in- nearby stations, mainly to Camp Shoemaker in Oakland. Others charge of any responsibility for the disaster, and in so far as any remained at Port Chicago to clear away debris and search for what human cause was invoked, the burden of blame was laid on the could be found of bodies. shoulders of the black enlisted men who died in the explosion. 12 * NEXUS JUNE-JULY 1996