Military personnel, civilians Memorial dedicated 45 years after historic explosion among victims of blast

he 320 persons lost and 390 injured The lone Marine killed was on pier 1n the Port Chicago explosion includ­ guard duty. ed not only Navy personnel, but men Regardless of branch of service or of the Coast Guard, U.S. Merchant assigned duty, Rear Admiral Carleton Manne. and Marine Corps, as well as H. Wright, Commandant of the 12th c1v1! service employees and civilians. Naval District at the time. expressed a Most of !he naval officers and Navy view embodied in the Port Ch icago enlisted were assigned either to the Memorial. Naval Magazine or the Naval Barracks commands. Thirty were members of At a press conference, he said they Armed Guard crews assigned to the "gave their lives in the service of their two ships country. Their sacrifi ce could not have The CoaS! Guard men manned a fire been greater had this loss occurred on barge. and the civil service employees a battleship or a beach-head of the war Memorial Site The area between the converging railroad tracks nearthe pier's entrance was selected were a th ree-man Navy ralfroad crew. fronts.''. as the location for memorial.

S2c James C. Akins S2c Alfred Phillips GM3c Clarence Allen, Jr. GM3c Charles Pickett Lt. (jg) Maxie l. Anderson S2c Houston Porter S2c Leslie K. Asare S2c McCoy Porter S2c Isaiah Ash, Jr. S2c David W. Potts S2c David Bacon, Sr. U.S. NAVAL MAGAZINE AND NAVAL BARRACKS (211) SM3c(T) Sam uel H. Powell S2c Henry W. Ba iley GM2c Joe C. Preuitt GM3c Leonard Baker S2c Arthus Reid, Jr. S2c David Barnes, Jr. S2c Arther L. Ebenezer S1c George W. Hayes S1c Ivery L. Jones, Jr. GM3c James E. Rhodes S2c Joseph Battle F2c Dunton I. Edwards S2c O.C. Haywood S1c Henry Joseph, Jr. S2c Clyde F. Richardson S2c Raphel 0. Beason Sic Herbert L. Edwards Sic Douglas L. Hector S1c S8muel Kearney S2c James A. Roberts Pier 1 before . . and after.. S2c Silas Bell S2c Junios C. Ervin S1c David L. Higginbotham S1c (SC)(B) Galvin King S1c Mango Roberts Lt. Thomas L. Blackman S2c Luther Eusery sic Sobie R. Higgs $2c Clifton King MoMM 3c Alphonse Robinson S2c David E. Blackwell S2c Ananias Evans, Sr. S1c Cluster Hill S2c Verna Land S2c Fred Robinson, Jr. S2c Thimon Blaylock S2c Horace Evans S2c Joseph Hills S1c Sidney J. Laporte, Jr. S1c Eugene J. Rogers Two ships lost in war's Repeat unlikely Project sponsored by Navy S1c Johnnie C. Borders S2c John H. Evans S2c Charles W. Hite Sic Willie Law, Jr. S2c Robert Sanders CM 1c James H. Born S2c William L. Evans S2c (SC) Rudolph V. Holden S2c Cleo Lawson S2c Wesley Saunders because of S2c L. T. Bowen S2c John 8. Fellsbret S2c Stanford Holley S2c Caludlus W. Leslie Lt. Roland Schindler worst stateside disaster WWII Armed Guard veterans S2c Charles L. Boyce S2c Robert L. Ferguson MoMM3c (T) Eldred L. Holmes S2c (SC) Aaron A. Lewis GM3c Carl C. Scott The waters of Suisun 3ay were near· bombs and ammuniuon on t e 1ber­ S2c Alvin Brewer, Jr. GM3c Clarence S. Fields S2c Ernest M. t1 ow.ard S2c T.C. Lewis Lt. Vernon C. Shaner safer handling Once a month, a salty group of old the two ships at Port Chicago may have ly calm under a cool southwest breeze S2c James Bridges S2c Frank J. Howard S2c Lemuel M. Long S1c Joseph J. Sheckles ly Ship SS E.A. Bryan sailors get together and tell sea stories been a record for a ssngle disaster. S2c Jessie Finney avy 1n est1gators determined that S1c Walter L. Brooks, Jr. S2c Matthew Forkner, Jr. S2c Earl H. Hudsor S2c Robert Lyons S2c Willie Sims at 10: 5 p.m. on the night of July i7, On the opposite side of e pter • e over Sunday brunch. They tell of the The U.S. Navy Armed Guard traces Sic Issac Smith 1944. T e lrghts of the aval Magazine ere were s.tx possible causes for the F1c Johnnie L. Broome S1c Joseph R. Francis S2c Glen Hughes S2c Beattie J. M8kins Victory Ship Ownau:t rctory ...... as be· howling winds of the Murmansk ru n: :ts beginnings to World War I. when S2c Leroy Hughes Sic (GM} Rossell E. Martin S1c James P. Smith pier flooded the Chicago shore exo OSIOO and where it might have S1c Ernest L. Burnett S2c Ford S. Franklin, Jr. Port mg ri gged for load:ng the terror of the German raiders: and crews were assigned to Allied mer­ S2c Theodore L· Hughes S2c (GM} Alonzo Martin S1c Ellis Taylor occ rec hey based their opinion of Sic Wilbert Calvin S2c Artie J. Frazier ltne, otherw-ise shrouded in darkness Magazi ne's 102- man Sixt s1on A chant vessels facing the German U­ S2c Joseph M. Tolson long hours sweating out the slow S2c Lawrence L. Carlin CMic Elmer B. Froid S2c William HUlnphrey, Jr. Sic Daniel Massie under a moonless, clear sky. three-man Navy locomotive crew a he most probable cause upon cir­ HA2c Maxie O. Towles dawns over the North Atlantic and boat menace. Navy men maintained S2c Robert A. Carter S1c Gerard Gabriel S2c Ross O. Hunt S1c Lawrence Mathews, Jr. Th e crew of an empty oil company cumstanual rather direct evidence, iust pushed the last o' 16 boxcars o - South Pacific. their ships silhouetted guns installed on these merchantmen. Lt. (jg) John B. Christenbury S2c Bennie L. Gaines S2c Wave Hunt S2c Charles A. Mayfield S1c (GM) Norvin L. Van Dunk Since no one h·1ed who had actually tanker passing 1n mid-channel pro­ to the pier containing nearly 500 tons manned them when under attack. and S2c Eddie L. Clark S2c Elgar Gant S2c Rudolph W. Hunter S1c Mitchell McClam Sic Isaiah Wade against the distant sky, like clay arcade bably viewed the familiar scene with no of depth charges and incendiary witnessed what had happened. S1c Eugene Coffee, Jr. Sic (CM) John S. Gibson CM3c(T) Leroy 1ngram CCM(T) Clarence K. McFarland S2c Charles Walker, Jr. ducks at the mercy of enemy repelled enemy boarding parties seek­ concern, as must have the flight crew The moS1 likely was detonation of a S1c Bill Coleman S2c Jethero Gilbert S1c D.C. Jackson S1c Calvin Melton S2c Walter L. Walker, Jr. bombs for the Bryan and about 250 submarines. ing to reprovision their undersea wolf S2c Enos Coley S1c Samuel Glenn, Jr. S2c James JackSon S1c Ernest C. Miller S2c Woodrow L. Walker of a C49 cargo plane enroute to tons cf bombs for !he empty Oumault "supersens1 ve element" in the course And, there are tales of bars and packs. GM2c(T) William Warren Sacramento from Oakland. flyi ng at and.rng S2c Arthur A. Connor S1c Lewis 0. Goudelock GM2c James E.M. Jackson MoMM3c Ira Miller, Jr. C. Victory. of brawls. and girls left behind in Sydney Disbanned after the armistice, Navy S2c Otis K. Miller S2c James L. Washington S2c Frank Cooley S2c Harry L. Graham S1c Levi R. Jaci.:son 9.000 ieet. S1xty·seven merchant seamen ....-ere he 350-lb depth charges and in­ and South Hampton. Armed Guard crews had served on 384 S2c Norman H. Craig S2c Paul E. Jackson S2c Marshall Moore, Sr. S2c Woodrow Washington , Jr. S1c William H. Green Those in the cockpit of another nor­ on their ships, along w1th 30 members cen<::1ary c usters being loaded in Inevitably, before long. thoughts turn ships dunng the war. a far cry from the S2c Eddie L. Cross S2c Ross B. Grlmage S2c Robert A. Jack.-son , Jr. CM2c Thomas Moore GM3c Daniel West thbound airli ner, lower but further away of the Navy Armed Guard of bot shngs and ets from boxcars into the 10 serious matters: ships lost and ship­ 6.236 commercial vessels they pro. S2c Jessie V. Crump S2c A.O. Hamilton Gm3c Samuel Jackson, Jr. S2c William P. Moore Lt. Og) Raymond R. White were. no doubt. passing overhead vessels. A Marine Sentry was on pier SS Bryan's two forward holds were tected during World War II. $1c Herman L. Curtis S2c Ernest E. Hamllton S1c Daniel L. Jamison Ens. Gilbert Mordoh S1c Joseph B. White mates who went down with them: without interest in what was going on guard duty, and five Coast Guardsme considered as supersensitive under In 1941, with the war in Europe S2c Horace Daniel, Sr. S2c Emera! Hamm S1c Willie Jennins S2c Eddie L. Neal S2c Arthur Whitmore prayers for those among their dwindl· below. manned a fi re barge al he piers' end certain cond1t1ons: if uni ntentionally S2c Huby Dansby S2c George R. Hammon S2c Henry L. Johnson S2c Willis Nettles S2c Mitchell A. Williams ing numbers who since their last spreading and the obvious, eventual Passengers getting off a train that S2c Floyd M. Davis S2c John W. Hannah, Jr. Lt. (jg) James 8. Johnson S1c James H. Nixon S2c Maryland E. Wilson Three civihan contractors were work­ fused. rf a casing was damanged, or meeting, now spin yarns in Fiddler's envolvemen! o! the United States, had JUSI arnved at Port Chicago depot S2c Henry J. Davis S2c Joe H. Hardaway S2c Clarence Johnson S2c William H. Otey, Sr. GM3c Oliver Wilson ing late a few hundred yards away m 1 explosive matenat were somehow Green instead o1 the Coconut Grove at measures were taken to prepare for the S2c Samuel Wilson were cla1m1ng baggage. Some may S2c Willie Oavis S2c John L. Harding S2c Earl T. Johnson S2c Auguster Packer 0. an office on a second pier under leakrng. An miual explosive could have Santa Cruz. protection of U.S. and Allied vessels Sic (SC) William F. Paschal Lt. Harold A. Wood S2c James L. Devaughn S2c B.C. Harris S1c Gabe Johnson have been discussing the circus that construction. resulted from rough handling, failure These are the U.S. Navy Armed fallir.g victim in increasing numbers :o S2c Nathaniel Dixson S1c Harold Johnson S2c Robert F. Peete S2c James E. Woods was tow n and had given its !ast per­ S2c Roscoe A. Harris m Less than fo ur m:nutes later, persons of toadmg gear. collision of the switch Guard Veterans of World War II - the German raiders in the Atlantic and air­ S2c Rayfield D. Doyle sic Milton F. Johnson S2c Lester L. Perry S2c Walter E. Wright S2c Phillip H. Harrison formance earlier m the evening. As who had moments before left the pter engine with a loaded boxcar, or, final­ S2c Charles E. Wyatt remnants of a valiant corps of fighting craft within range of their a1rf1elds. S2c Herman Dunbar S2c Clifford Harvey, Jr. S1c Daniel L. Joner, S2c Joe H. Person they drove home, they may have pass­ heard the sound of sphntenng wood ly, sabotage, although there was no sailors who manned the guns on our However. Congress could not authorize ed the !Q\•m's theater where nearly 200 and scraping metal as 1f a iorNard evidence to support the latter. merchant ships and fought and died arming U.S. flag cargo vessels due to of its c1t1zens watched a movie, un· OTHER MILITARY (6) boom on the Bryan might have give n Today, these pcssible reasons have beside their Merchant Marine brothers. the Neutrality Act of i939. The portion concerned about the activity on the NAVY AND CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES (6) way and crashed down onto one of the been considerably reduced in pro. It is the Western Division of this o! that Act dealing with this prohibition Pvt. Elwin A. Blanke, Marine Corps MoMM3c Edward J. Portz, Coast Naval Magazine's pier. where sailors 98 boxcars. This was fol .OY.'ed 1mmed1a:ety babihty. Fatl-sa e mechanisms, improv­ nation-wide organization which spon· was repealed in November, 1941 , less BM1c Peter G. Broda, Coast Guard Guard were ''topping off" a 6.000-ton load of Lawrence C. Bustrack, Macco Co. Thomas 0. Hunt, Macco Co. by an ear·sphttlng , massive, sharp ex· ed stability of explosive material, sored and raised the money for the than one month before the Japanese Gunder Halverson, Macco Co. Harry A. Middleton, Navy Employee MM1c William G. Degryce, Coast Guard S1c Charles H. Ri ley, Coast Guard plos1on as bombs in several of t e and. most important, strigently en­ Port Chicago Memorial. attack on Pearl Harbor which propell­ Raymond V. Hunnicutt, Navy Employee Fred Zanarini, Navy Employee S2c James C. Sullivan, Coast Guard Heroic town railcards detonated simultaneous forced safety procedures render a reoc- Organized into crews of 15 to 20, the ed th is nation in the war. An ascending column of boiling, Continued on insert page l 30 Armed Guardsmen who perished in Continued on insert page 3 MARITIME SERVICE ON SSE.A. BRYAN (31) Port Chicago billowing gases flashing with shades of orange and red rose into the black Elmer A. Andraschonko, Cook Joseph 0 . Grange, Jr. , Engr. Harry E. Nathan. Seaman deserves medal sky. Smaller exp!cs1011s, hke bursting SS BRYAN ARMED GUARD (13) Albert A. Arsenla n, Seaman Fred Hayes, Seaman Jesse Porter, Sr., Ch . Cook If ever an American town deserved fireworks. crackled 111 s1de the cloud as Delbert R. Huchinson, Fireman Richard D. Roberson, Seaman William C. Benhart, Oiler a Purple Heart , it's Port Chicago, its color changed t1rst to brilhant white, Martin M. Cacic, Seaman Peter C. Jepsen, Ch. Engr. Aaron C. Sangster, Jr. , Seaman Sic Wayland E. Causey S1c Kenneth H. Muirhead California. then to yellow and reddish orange. Red Ray E. Davis, Wiper Charles A. Johnson, Utilityman Ellsworth M. Shaw, Oiler S1c Rudy J. Cebellia A1c Jesse W. Mullican Many Ame rican servicemen fighting hot metal fragments tore through the Donald Oennon, Wiper Clifford R. Johnson, Utilityman Howard A. Smith, 1st Mate S1c Robert E. Chase S1c Lloyd J. Quick t;. Ra lph A. Lantz, Seaman Andrew Suchan, Fireman or freedom during World War II were side of Bryan and dropped into her S2c Claude L. Chastain S1c Martin J. Setzer Thomas. E. Dorsey, Seaman John A. Louis, Engr. Robert F. Townsend , 2nd Mate seriously wounded 1n that war. And . the open holds, 1gnit1ng powder and set­ SM3c John J. Gee S1c George H. Singer George H. Falk, Bos'n Marcus J. Franklin, Engr. Frank C. Malizia, Carpenter Harding E. White, Messman probability exists that a few cf those ting off a series of small, q uick Lt. (jg) Ralph B. Hartman S1c Listern L. Small Edward Maniace, Messman George H. Witt. Utilityman S1c Clarence R. Hollandsworth Alfred 0. Gilbert, Engr. who served in that war picked up explosions. James R. Gilstnip, Seaman freedom's shield again only to have 1t Area seismographs recorded the !all from th eir hfeless grasp m Vietnam . time as 10:1 8 p.m. and 47 seconds. MARITIME SERVICE ON SS QUINAULT VICTORY (36) This 1s also the legacy of Port Less than seven seconds later their Chicago. needles iarred more fiercely to the Robert O. Bailey, Utilltyman Robert K. Hendricksen, Seaman David R. Parsons. 3rd Mate On July 18, i944, troops of Lt . Gen. deep rumble of a thundermQ roar as SS QUI NAULT VICTORY ARMED GUARD (17) Robert E. Bartlett, Messman Elis Hendricks.sen, Engr. Mike Pearson, Oiler Omar Bradley's First Army broke the remaining explosives detonated in John D. Bell, Asst. Purser Johannes N. Justesen, Steward Ellis 8. Pinson, Engr. through the German Imes at St. Lo and Bryan as 1f the ship were one, huge GM3c Jack L. Albin S1c Jacob O. Risenhoover Walter F. Kannberg, Engr. Richard V. Potter, Fireman Frederick E. Bentley, Seaman pushed on to liberate Pans. Allred fie ld bomb GM2c Delbert P. Bergstrom S1c William R. Robinson Donald H. Cheney, Elect. Robert E. Keim, 2nd Mate Virgil R. Sandberg. Engr. hospitals were fill ed wi th US. Not confined to a ns1ng column as S1c(SM) Jack P. Bowman S1c Charles H. Roadell Hugh E. Crawford, Maint. Man Joseph B. Koeninger, Seaman Albert A. Scott, Ch. Mate casualties; men bleeding and dying in the fJTst explosion. this second blast GM3c John G. Hall Sic Jay Rose, Jr. Floyd F. Crist, Seaman Earl L. Mallery. Engr. Lestder S. Skance, Seaman S1c George D. Hovland S1c Otis K. Ross Albert C. Diede, Me:;sman Lloyd K. McDaniel, Seaman Howard W. Sullivan, Seaman from the long desperate se1ge In !he wave ro lled out across land and water sic Andy Morrow S1c Woodrow W. Saint Wallace M. Durland, Seaman Kenneth M. Moen. 3rd Mate Robert J. Sullivan, Master Pacific war. hospital sh1ps were receiv­ pushing the mushrooming cloud to SM2c William H. Mulryan S1c Arnold T. Sanders Kenneth J. Eulrlck, Seaman Robert S. Morell, Oiler Glen E. Thompson, Engr. ing wounded from the bloody invasion 12.000 feet Tearing Oumault V1c1ory Sic Henry J. Myers S1c Harold S. Sang Burke E. Falor, Utilityman Isadore E. Narinsky, Seama1, Louis J. Widner, Messman of the Mananas Island. after wrestling f ~om her mooring, 11 twisted her and The explosion tore Quinault Victory from the pier and broke her into sections, the largest, a 60-foot section S1c Woodrow A. Ri iff Eugene W. Garrett, Fireman Roy L. Nelson, Carpenter John A. Williams. Ch. Engr. Continued on insert page 2 Continued in insert page 2 of keel and the bow, were visible at low tide. Port Chicago Explosion M~morial Souvenir Edition Port Chicago Explosion Memorial Souvenir Edition

j Bryan named for noted Armed Guard veterans .. Town of Port Chicago, U.S. Naval Magazine suffer heavy damage Continued from insert page 1 Washington educator In the mean!ime. a neH crop of Navy farms and midwest factories from Armed Guard gunners. rad iomen. and which they came. signalmen were being trained at a Gone at last were the tears of floating training center m little Creek, Virg1n1a. 1n icy seas with only a hfe jacket to keep These second-generation armed them alive. No longer would their guarders we re equipped for action heads ache from the roar of rapid-fi re vastly different than their World War I five and three inch guns that ranled the predecessors faced. deck plates of the liberty and victory The German U-boat had become a ships on which they sailed. greatly improved. longer-range sub­ But, the memories remain, and marine with advanced, deadly those who still remember gather with firepower. They also had to prepare their brides. who sweated out the vigor themselves to deal with surface raiders of war with them, to honor the 1,810 which. along with their submerged shipmates who never returned; who brolhers. had turned the Atlantic into cannot meet with them now in the a v1nual German-controlled ocean. tw1hght of hfe and talk of battles. bars SS Bl)'Bn on the ways. There were enemy planes to deal and brawls, and girls left behind in The SS E.A. Bryan slid down the returned to Port Chicago for another with and dreadnaughts tying patiently Sydney and South Hampton. ways at Kaiser Richmond yard No. 2 on load of ordnance on Thursday, July 13, in waiting off the West coast of Europe. February 29, 1944, to the cheers of after taking on fuel at the Standard Oil Indeed. many Armed Guardsmen and shipyard workers and Washington refinery in Richmond. She was moored merchant sailors were lost 1ust off the State 4-H Club representatives. She frt­ starboard side to heading wesi: inboard coast of the Carolinas. which had ted out in eight days and was turned between the pier and shore. become known as .. Torpedo Alley." The articles appearing in this aver to the War Shipping Administra­ Arriving at 8:30 a.m., she started special section were written by Assembled and administered from tion on March 8 for operation by the loading i i/2 hours later and had been J.D. Tikalsky and are based on centers 1n San Francisco. New Oliver J. Olson Company. taking explosive aboard, day and cargo Orleans, and New Yo rk , Armed Guard investigative reports, newspaper Named for Or. Enoch A. Bryan, four>­ night for 3 i12 days. Her crew were crews were formed there and assing­ articles and other historical ding President of Washington State preparing to get underway in the ear­ ed to commercial ships. Most had material from the Naval Weapons University, the 7,212-ton Liberty Ship ly morning the tide ebbed. Her as never been to sea before. and when Station Public Affairs Office files. was built in 18 days and christened by holds were nearly full with more than the war was over, they returned to the Mrs. Gertrude Bryan Hayes, Or. Bryan's 5,000 tons of bombs, shells and am­ daughter. munition. Three of her five holds had The town of Port Chicago (above /eN), structures (above right). Below are ex­ Mrs. Hayes represented 10,000 been topped off and the final 500 tons Only 10 days old less than two miles from the pier, suf­ amples of damage on the Naval Washington State 4-H Club members of depth charges and incediary bombs fered extensive damage to several Magazine. We've come a long way since 1944 who had, during a tw(>month drive, were being winched aboard and stow­ sold a record $3,370,555 in order that ed in her two forward holds from the ship might bear the name of the railcars on the pier. Quinault victory's career Explosive handling "techniques" 45 years ago man who had presided over WSU Most of her crew was aboard, but when it was known as the Washington some. along with members of her Arm­ ended before it started Stale Agriculture School. ed Guard, were ashore on official The ship proudly bore a plaque bear­ business or last-minute liberty. All who Quinault Lake shimmers blue in the the 7,606-ton ship was christened by a ing the names of the state's former were aboard and on the pier perished cool alpine summer of Washington representative of the Ouinault tribe as 4-H'ers serving their country. as she exploded like a monstrous State's Olympic Peninsula. Its waters other tribal members chanted bless­ Or. Bryan was a 4-H club patron dur­ bomb. Only fragments of her hulk that rush through northern Grays Harbor ings for safe passage. Their chief was ing his years at the Pullman. Wash., were cast ashore remained of the pride Coonty 10 the rugged coast in the silver serving with the Army in Europe and school as its head from 1893 to 1917. of Washington State University. Quinault Ai\/er, alive with salmon dur­ could not attend. but his son did and After five years as Idaho State's Com­ Heartbroken at the ship's destruc· ing the yearly runs. This lake and river remembers well that proud moment. missioner of Education, he retired and tion. Mrs. Hayes expressed a belief are named for a proud Pacific North­ FotlO\Yi ng the ship's outfitting, she returned to Pullman as a research pro­ shared by all who have lost loved ones west Indian tribe, and so was the SS was turned over to the United States fessor until his death in 1941. at sea: ''There is no consolalton unless Quinault Victory. Lines by the War Shipping Administra­ The SS Bryan had completed her it is in knowing that it is this sort of thing Built by the Oregon Shipbuilding tion on July n, 1944, and, a few days maiden voyage to the Pacific and had we have to expect of the ships and men Corporation in its Portland, Ore., yard, Nho go into action that they may go later. set sail for Port Chicago to load for her maiden voyage to the war zone. Two ships lost... down in action.". '------, l>J 6 p.m . on July 17, after a brief fuel Continued from Insert page 1 stop at the Shell Oil dock in Martinez, tore her into several sections. The she moored starboard side to, heading largest was a 60-foot section of hull 3ast , alongside the Port Chicago with propeller attached and a portion magazine's loading pier. of her bow. She had been moored port­ slde to the pier with bow facing up Wind and tid3 had caused some pro­ stream, but now the torn boW faced blems, and, or1 and on, her master had nearly the opposite direction. ordered slow turns of the engine to Only fragments of Bryan could be keep her snug to the pier. This was the found. The larger ones, a few slightly case at 10:15 p.m. as her crew and larger than a suitcase, were cast for up Naval magazine sailors readied her to a mile inland. holds to take aboard bombs from 16 rail As the terrible cloud faded, and its cars lined up on the pier between her thunder rolled oH into the distance, and the SS E.A. Bryan. stunned sik3nce fell upon a scene that would reveal 320 military and civilians It was the fi rst time she had been had lost their lives and 390 were left rigged for loading and things were injured by World War ll's worst delayed because of trouble with the ,_o_r._B_l)'B_n_·•_d•_u_g_h_1e_r_c_h_rf_st_•_n_•_lh_e_•h_l_P_•_t_Ka_l_•_•r_s_R_1_ch_m_on_d_ya_rc1_. --~ new shackles, preventer guys, and stateside disaster. wmch whips. But, the loading was .. .' ::: " scheduled to begin at midnight, begin· • nmg with 253 tons of bombs and projectiles. Heroic town deserves a medal . .. Mo~ of her crew were aboard and nent domain, Congress appropri ated Repeat unlikely. many of her Armed Guard had not left Continued from insert page 1 The explosion resulted in the most about $18 milli on to compensate the ship; and, they never did. The ex­ their control from the Japanese. In extensive investigation ever conducted owners for the loss of their property. A Continued from insert page 1 plosion 1n the SS Bryan ripped he r Contra Costa County, hospitals were into the causes and consequences of few months later. Port Chicago died as curance of the Port Chicago explosion apan and flu ng sections of her hull in­ treating wounded residents of Port massive mun111ons explosions. as well a town. most of her structures pushed virtually impossible. to the channel. Chicago. as its citizens sorted through as methods to prevent them and the1r mto holes and buried by bulldoze rs. Since 1944. there have been maier the damage wreaked by the Navar resulting in;unes. At the height of !he warm Vietnam, improvements in the state of the art of Moments before, her mast had stood Magazine explosion the mght before. The outcome of that 1nvest1gat1on Port Chicago sacrificed its life to the designing and operating explosive tall. as the lofty pines lining the lake Although the town was not " razed" eventually led to a decision by the U.S. defense of freedom and the long-range handhng gear and development of bel· and river bearing her name. But, the or "leveled" as early news reports Congress to buy out pnvate interests national defense interests of the ter safe!y procedures. next morning as the dark sky began to stated and later reports h1ston cally and create an uninhabited area sur· country. These procedures are far supenor to turn grey m dawn's first light. all that repeat. th ree buildings had been flat· rounding the loading docks at Port The town was a veteran of four wars; those followed 45 years ago, some could be seen of this proud ship were tened. several suftered heavy struC1ural Chicago. This was done 1n 1968 after as Bay Pom1. a shipyard there bu11t evolving from lessons learned from !he the stern of her keel. with its still pro­ damage. and all others had been more than 10 years of dispute between wooden ships for the Navy dunng Pon Chicago d1 sas!er. peller, and her torn bow. grotesquely damaged 1n some way. Th1rty·nine of the town's residents and !he U.S. World War I. It was wounded 1n World However. safety procedures at the protruding !he surface of the ebbing its citizens had been 1n1ured . most of Government. War II; and symbolically, 1t was " killed weapons station asume the .. worst All that's left of the SS Quinault Victory only ten days lifter delivery to the War Shipping Administration. water ol Suisun Bay. them by shattered wi ndow glass. Through the legal process of em1- 1n action" dunng the Vietnam War case.. could happen. Port Chicago Explosion Memorial Souvenir Edition - Port Chicago Explosion Memorial Souvenir Edition