"Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial" by NPS Photo/Luther Bailey , public domain
Port Chicago Naval Magazine
National Memorial - California
The Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial is a memorial dedicated in 1994 recognizing the dead of the Port Chicago disaster, and the critical role played by Port Chicago, California during World War II, in serving as the main facility for the Pacific Theater of Operations. The memorial is located at the Concord Naval Weapons Station near Concord, California, in the United States.
Official Brochure of Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial (NMEM) in California. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
https://www.nps.gov/poch/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_Naval_Magazine_National_Memorial
The Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial is a memorial dedicated in 1994 recognizing the dead of the Port Chicago disaster, and the critical role played by Port Chicago, California during World War II, in serving as the main facility for the Pacific Theater of Operations. The memorial is located at the Concord Naval Weapons Station near Concord, California, in the United States.
On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion jolted the San Francisco East Bay area, shattering windows and lighting up the night sky. At Port Chicago Naval Magazine, 320 men were killed instantly when two ships loading ammunition for Pacific troops exploded, resulting in the worst home front disaster of WWII. The aftermath illuminated the issues of segregation and racial inequality in the military.
The Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial is on an active military base, so it is only accessible by reservation. The shuttle picks up visitors with reservations at the John Muir National Historic Site. Please know that all visitors for the memorial must have a reservation. Please visit our website for information on how to obtain reservations.
Temporary Port Chicago Visitor Center
Important: The Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial shuttle picks up visitors with reservations at the John Muir National Historic Site. Please know that all visitors for the memorial must have a reservation in order to visit the Port Chicago Naval Magazine Memorial. Directions to the John Muir NHS can be found below.
Please note that tours for Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial require advance reservations. Please visit our website for more details. The directions provided here are for the John Muir National Historic Site. From San Francisco: Eastbound I-80 (Oakland - San Francisco Bay Bridge) to eastbound Highway 4. Exit at Alhambra Avenue, turning left at bottom of the ramp. Cross beneath highway. The park is immediately on your left. For more directions, please visit the website.
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
Port Chicago Memorial
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
Park signs sitting in rock bed. Trees and bay in background.
Park sign at the memorial.
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
Historic train car.
Historic train car at the memorial site.
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
Munitions bolted as display in the magazine.
Munitions at the memorial.
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
American flag waves in the wind.
American flag at the memorial.
Pacific Border Province
The Pacific Border straddles the boundaries between several of Earth's moving plates on the western margin of North America. This region is one of the most geologically young and tectonically active in North America. The generally rugged, mountainous landscape of this province provides evidence of ongoing mountain-building.
Drakes Estero in Point Reyes National Seashore. NPS photo/Sarah Codde
Series: Physiographic Provinces
Descriptions of the physiographic provinces of the United States, including maps, educational material, and listings of Parks for each.
George B. Dorr, founder of Acadia National Park
Top Ten Tips for a Summer Visit to Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
Entrance sign for the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial.
A granite base park entrance sign sits next to a sidewalk and the bay.
Diana McDaniel
The public memorialization of the Port Chicago Naval Magazine owes much to the work of Reverend Diana McDaniel, whose uncle was one of around 1,800 men who worked at Port Chicago during World War II. These men witnessed the war’s largest loss of life on the US mainland when an explosion on July 17, 1944 killed 320 men, two thirds of whom were Black Americans, and injured hundreds more.
Black woman stands at podium speaking to crowd in front of river
Keith Park: Horticulturist, Arborist in the Pacific West Region
Keith Park is as a horticulturalist and certified arborist and maintains the historic landscapes at John Muir National Historic Site, Eugene O’Neil National Historic Site, Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park, and Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial. He received the 2021 regional Cultural Resource Award for Facility Maintenance Specialist for his outreach work with community partners and National Park Service sites across the Pacific West.
Man stands in tree
Series: Women's History in the Pacific West - California-Great Basin Collection
Biographies from Northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada
Map of northern California, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Mountains and Nevada
Nancy Gilliland Firsthand Account and Eugene Coffee Jr. Gravesite
The explosion at Port Chicago Naval Magazine claimed the lives of hundreds of young African American sailors who worked under segregated and unsafe conditions. It had a deep impact on the local civilian community, the sailors’ families, and U.S. military alike. For Nancy Gilliland, it was a frightening night she never forgot. For Robert Harris, whose uncle Eugene Coffee, Jr. died in the explosion, finding out the truth about his uncle’s death has been a homecoming long in the
Two portraits: On left, a young white girl; right, a young uniformed African American sailor.
Series: Home and Homelands Exhibition: Politics
Who has the right to call a place home? Who gets to decide? Building a home is personal, but it also political. This thread contains stories of belonging and exclusion. At the heart of each story is a woman or group working, organizing, or fighting for their homes and homelands. Most of them fought for full inclusion in American society despite systemic challenges and racial injustices. Some fought for an autonomous homeland. The written word dominates – all pleas for justice.
Thick white paper peeled back to reveal collage of women.
Port Chicago
Naval Magazine
Driven by wartime demands, loaders
worked around the clock. Yard engines
pushed rail cars full of munitions onto
the 1,200-foot pier (right).
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
National Memorial
California
Loader teams at each of the ship's holds
used muscle and steam winches (above)
to wrestle bombs, shells, and mines
from the cars into the holds.
ALL PHOTOS: U.S. NAVY
Ifound myself flying towards the wall..
Cyril Sheppard was reliving the first explosion.
Then the next one came right behind that. Phoom!
... Men were screaming, the lights went out and
glass was flying all over the place. For Sheppard
and other seamen a mile away from the munitions
loading pier, the monstrous blast was traumatic
enough. Loaders and others at the pier that night—
320 men—lost their lives. The 1944 Port Chicago
explosion was the result of unsafe loading practices. When some loaders refused to return to work
under the same conditions, the U.S. Navy put them
on trial for mutiny. All the munitions loaders at the
base were African American, making the explosion
and trial a little-known but important chapter in
the history of U.S. civil rights.
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After the accident these black sailors had been transferred across the
bay to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. On August 9th they were
marched toward the USS San Gay to again load munitions.
The blast reduced part of the pier to
c rubble; the rest disappeared. The sterr
section of Quinault Victory (upper ..
fright) was thrown 500 feet.
THE WORK With war threatening in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy
needed to boost its West Coast
capacity for storing and loading
munitions. Port Chicago on
Suisun Bay offered a deepwater
terminal, rail connections, and
isolation from highly populated
areas. The December 1941 Pearl
Harbor attack spurred on construction, and the facility was
ready to load ships a year later.
The seamen assigned as loaders
were all African American, a reflection of naval policies at the
time. The Navy had recently
allowed African Americans to
train in duties outside their traditional roles as stewards, stevedores, or cooks, but even in
time of war most were assigned
to these menial jobs in segregated units. At Port Chicago the
black munitions loaders were
supervised by white officers
and black petty officers.
Already chafing under segregation, the seamen grew increasingly apprehensive about the
nature of the work. Neither they
nor the officers had special
training in handling munitions.
Worse, officers placed bets on
whose team could load the most
tonnage. The facility also ignored advice from a local longshoremen's union and the U.S.
Coast Guard regarding safer
loading practices.
THE EXPLOSION By July 1944
Port Chicago had widened its
pier so two ships could be loaded. On the night of the 17th the
E.A. Bryan was almost full. The
Quinault Victory had arrived
that day; loading would start at
midnight. Sixteen rail cars lined
the pier, filled with 1,000-pound
bombs, depth charges, and sensitive incendiary bombs. Also at
the pier were a marine guard;
ships' crews; a few civilians,
including the rail crew; and a
Coast Guard fire boat crew.
No one is sure what happened
next—only that at 10:18 pm
there was a tremendous explosion, followed seconds later by
a much larger one that obliterated ships, pier, cars, and humans.
The blast's debris-filled cloud
rose 12,000 feet into the air. Its
shock wave was felt for 40 miles,
and falling debris damaged most
of the homes and businesses of
the town of Port Chicago, over a
mile away. The base's injured
were taken to nearby hospitals,
while other survivors were left
with the grim work of recovering their crewmates' remains.
THE "MUTINY" Survivors anticipated 30 days leave—as their
officers had received—and
transfer to other duty, but the
Navy granted neither. Instead
they were sent to Mare Island
Naval Shipyard and on August 9
were marched to the shipyard's
munitions pier to resume loading. Initially 258 refused, saying
they were afraid to load. Threatened with death by firing squad
for mutiny during war, 208 yielded. They were given bad conduct
discharges after serving out their
terms. The 50 who persisted
faced the largest mass mutiny
trial in naval history.
The prosecutor's case turned on
what he called "collective" acts
to subvert established authority.
The defense argued that while
the 50 had refused to load, this
was the result of each man's fear
and not a conspiracy to overthrow a superior. NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall publicly asked hard questions about the
base's safety practices, but the 50
were convicted and given sentences of 8 to 15 years. After the
war the Navy gra