Navy exonerates 256 Black sailors unjustly court-martialed in WWII-era Port Chicago explosion

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Navy has exonerated 256 Black sailors who were unjustly court-martialed in 1944 following the Port Chicago explosion in California that killed 320 people.

The sailors had been punished for refusing to go back to work in what they considered to be an unsafe environment. Their prosecution took place at a time when the U.S. military was still segregated and reflected the unfair treatment that Black sailors experienced.

The 256 sailors were exonerated by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro on the 80th anniversary of the accidental, deadly World War II-era blast, which also injured 400 other people. The explosion at an ammunition loading area also damaged two ships and a train, and caused damage to the nearby town of Port Chicago, located east of Oakland, California.

Del Toro's exoneration carries more weight than a pardon, which acknowledges guilt. Instead, the exoneration will vacate all of the court-martials that the 256 sailors had to go through.

"Today, the Department of Defense has moved to rectify an old injustice -- and face up to a painful episode in our own history," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The sailors "refused to keep loading munitions in the same unsafe and inhumane conditions that contributed to the catastrophe," he said, adding that, decades later, the military recognizes that the sailors "were right, and the segregated Navy that unnecessarily risked their lives was wrong."

What happened after the deadly explosion reflected the double standard experienced by white and Black personnel in the segregated military at the time.

White supervising officers at Port Chicago were given hardship leave, while the surviving Black sailors they commanded in segregated units that loaded ammunition were ordered back to work at the port, which had been functioning around the clock to get ammunition to U.S. troops on the front lines.

Expressing safety concerns about their workplace in the wake of the deadly blast, 258 Black sailors refused to return to work handling dangerous ammunition.

After threats of disciplinary action, 208 of the sailors returned to work -- but they still received summary court-martials for disobeying orders and received a Bad Conduct Discharge and forfeiture of three months' pay. Later reviews suspended the discharges, lowered the amount of the forfeitures and set aside one conviction for insufficient evidence.

The other 50 sailors who refused to return to work were convicted and charged with mutiny; they have become known as the "Port Chicago 50."

In a mass court-martial, these sailors were sentenced to a Dishonorable Discharge, 15 years confinement at hard labor, a reduction in rank, and total forfeiture of their pay. Later reviews of the general court-martial resulted in a suspension of the discharges and reduced the period of confinement from 15 years to 17-29 months.

Two sailors were later cleared.

By January 1946, nearly all the sailors had been released and were given the opportunity to finish their military service contracts.

"The Port Chicago 50, and the hundreds who stood with them, may not be with us today, but their story lives on, a testament to the enduring power of courage and the unwavering pursuit of justice," Del Toro said in a Navy statement. "They stand as a beacon of hope, forever reminding us that even in the face of overwhelming odds, the fight for what's right can and will prevail."

Del Toro's decision to exonerate the 256 sailors follows a legal review by the Navy's General Counsel that found significant legal errors during the court-martial, including trying them all together despite conflicting interests, as well as a denial of what the Navy called "meaningful right to counsel."

"The courts-martial also occurred before the Navy's Court of Inquiry report on the Port Chicago explosion was finalized, which certainly would have informed their defense and contained nineteen substantive recommendations to improve ammunition loading practices," the Navy's statement read.

All of the sailors who were convicted following the blast are now deceased, and the Navy is asking any possible descendants to reach out to the branch for future notifications about the incident.

"I am deeply grateful for all the people of conscience in the U.S. Navy who have worked diligently to make this day possible, and to the advocates and family members who have pushed hard for so many decades to remedy this injustice," Austin said in his statement.

"The Department of Defense must continue to learn from our past, and today's decision reflects our commitment to reckoning with our history -- even when it is painful," he added.