Worst Home-front Disaster of WWII

On July 17, 1944, in Northern California, right off the Sacramento river, over 320 sailors lost their lives in an explosion that occurred as they were loading various munitions onto a naval boat during WWII. About 200 of those men were black. As was so often the case in the segregated armed services, black sailors and soldiers were ordered to perform many hazardous duties without first receiving the requisite training needed to perform them correctly. That's because they were considered expendable. In this matter Naval records showed the men had absolutely no training in handling depth charges, incendiary bombs and other munitions. None at all. Worse still, less than three weeks after the explosion, the black troops were ordered to resume their task of loading munitions onto naval ships. Their white counterparts were given additional time to recover from the explosion and were provided additional training beyond what they had already been given as well. Over 260 of the 300 AA men refused those orders, were court martialed and sentenced to up to 15 years at hard labor in prison as a result. The more fortunate of them were given honorable discharges. Today there is a strong move afoot to right that wrong from our segregated pass. President Obama, in fact, is trying to find a way to honor those men, pardon them and to put this matter into correct historical perspective. Indeed, let this past grievous incident remain as a learning lesson to the world.