We Must Share Information

IT IS IMPORTANT TO OUR SOCIETY—

NOT BECAUSE I SAY SO—

BUT BECAUSE SOME UNKNOWN TRAGEDIES—

ARE SO HORRIFIC—

THEY DESERVE OUR FULL—

AND TOTAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Last May, I wrote an article for California Update titled: 
Memorial Day, July 4th, Veteran’s Day—We Remember Special Days. You Might Also Want to Remember July 17.”

The article brought attention to the July 17, 1944, explosion at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was the deadliest home-front disaster of World War II, killing approximately 320 sailors and civilians. This July 17th marks the 81st anniversary of the explosion.

Last year, on the same date, the President of the United States officially exonerated the sailors who had been unjustly punished in the aftermath of the disaster.

The 3.4-magnitude explosion shook the Bay Area physically—and the blatant racial discrimination that followed reverberated throughout the nation, especially within the African-American community. Two-thirds of those killed and injured were Black sailors—young men with little to no training in loading munitions—working in one of the busiest weapons depots in the world. That single incident accounted for 15–20% of all African-American casualties in World War II. The site is now part of the National Park Service.

Nearly everyone I shared the original article with had never heard of this event. The following month, California Update published a follow-up article I wrote about the upcoming commemoration:
 The 80th Anniversary Remembrance of the July 17, 1944 Naval Tragedy Is July 20.

More than 400 people passed through military security to attend the ceremony held on that sacred site. A highlight of the observance was the announcement that President Joe Biden had exonerated the Port Chicago sailors on July 17, 2024—recognition long overdue.

It is important that this information be shared. Without ongoing efforts to illuminate painful truths, these stories can vanish—forgotten, as if they never happened.

I cannot take credit for bringing this history to light. Yes, I hope more people will learn about this event. But I was only able to write about it because someone once shared it with me. And someone else had dedicated themselves to researching and making it public.

I first heard about Port Chicago in 1974 from Percy Edmunds, a San Francisco Civil Rights figure. He told me one of the biggest challenges for any activist or organizer is to find out what happened. He said, “It’s your responsibility.” At the time, there were few resources. I certainly wasn’t an investigative journalist. I couldn’t find anything—not even a person who knew about the explosion. Eventually, in the early 1980s, life took over. We moved to the Sacramento area, and I left the search behind.

After I retired, I returned to the subject—and to Mr. Edmunds’ words.

To my surprise, I discovered that the Port Chicago disaster had become publicly documented and even memorialized as part of the National Park System:
 https://www.nps.gov/poch/index.htm


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_disaster

According to the NPS, much of the credit for the public awareness we now have belongs to Dr. Robert L. Allen. While researching African Americans in the U.S. Navy, he came across a 1945 NAACP pamphlet, tucked between two books, titled “Remember Port Chicago? You Should.” That discovery led to his groundbreaking book, The Port Chicago Mutiny.

Without Dr. Allen’s tireless research and commitment, very few people would know this tragic and significant history.

We often hear the phrase, “If you see something, say something,” a mantra created to protect us through shared awareness. The same principle applies to the stories of our past. Story surrounds us—in music, news, blogs, books, podcasts, movies, plays, and more. We live by story. It’s how we connect. And often, we don’t know what we don’t know.

So we need each other.

If you know something meaningful—especially a story that has been hidden or overlooked—please share it.

~ John Patterson