2006.4.3

This rusted shell casing was picked up by the donor's father, Michael Monaco, who was a draftsman in Port Chicago. The shell casing was among several twisted pieces of metal that he picked up near his place of employment after the explosion.

The explosion at Port Chicago, July 17, 1944, was the most significant American home-front catastrophe of World War II. Young sailors, predominately African American, were loading munitions and explosives on the SS E.A. Bryan and the SS Quinault Victory at the naval ordinance depot at Port Chicago in Contra Costa County. Of the 323 killed in the blast, 202 were African Americaan enlisted personnel; of the 390 injured, 233 were black enlisted men. Out of shock and grief, 200 men balked at returning to work under the same conditions exisiting before the explosion. Court-martials and dishonorable discharges followed for many. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman commuted the sentences and changed the dishonorable discharges to honorable, but the guilty verdicts remained on the records.

Used: Port Chicago | Explosion | World War II