On the 80th anniversary of World War II’s worst home-front disaster, the Navy secretary announced the exoneration of sailors charged with mutiny and disobeying orders.
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro signs an announcement of the full exoneration of the remaining 256 defendants of the 1944 Port Chicago general and summary courts-martial at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday.
Del Toro told The Washington Post the charges were “a tremendous wrong” that has haunted many survivors and their family members. “I have made the decision,” Del Toro said, “inherent within my authority dating to the laws of the time, to set aside the court-martial results of all sailors convicted as part of the Port Chicago incident.”
the Navy released Wednesday. The Black sailors worked under dangerous conditions loading ships with ammunition in brutal 24-hour shifts. The White officers supervising them often bet on which shifts could load more ammunition, the Navy found.The exoneration announced Wednesday covers 256 of the 258 sailors who were convicted in 1944.
After the blasts, the search for survivors almost immediately turned into a recovery mission. “Only 51 bodies remained intact for identification,” according to the Navy, “and the smell of burning flesh hung in the air.”Hundreds of the dead were unrecognizable. “All the men who survived were traumatized,” Akers said. “They were asked to go through the debris to look for possible survivors. They ended up picking up limbs.
The Navy declared “it could not confirm the exact cause of the initial explosion,” according to the Navy report. “The court’s 1,200-page report implied that, whatever the blast’s origin, the African American ammunition handlers must have had something to do with it.” After the threat of execution, 208 sailors returned to work. But 50 sailors continued to refuse. Those 50 were charged with mutiny. The other 208 were charged with disobeying a lawful order. All were subjected to what naval historians says was the largest mass mutiny trial in naval history.
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