Port Chicago Naval Magazine was dedicated as a National Memorial in 1992 to honor the courage and commitment of the Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, Merchant Mariners, and working civilians killed and injured in the largest homeland disaster during World War II. With roots reaching back to the mid-1800s, Port Chicago is one of the oldest Naval ordnance support bases on the West Coast. In 1942, the 13,000-acre port, located along the Sacramento River Delta in Concord, CA was annexed by Mare Island Naval Shipyard as an ammunition transshipment facility. Tragically, Port Chicago is best remembered as the site of a catastrophic explosion on July 17, 1944, that took the lives of 320 servicemen, including 202 African Americans. Five thousand tons of munitions being loaded for transport to the Pacific detonated, launching a tower of fire and smoke two miles into the sky. (Courtesy of National Park Service)
GPS:
N38° 03.450
W121° 61.783
Additional information available at http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/por.htm
GPS:
N38° 03.450
W121° 61.783
Additional information available at http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/por.htm
Port Chicago Naval Magazine was dedicated as a National Memorial in 1992 to honor the courage and commitment of the Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, Merchant Mariners, and working civilians killed and injured in the largest homeland disaster during World War II. With roots reaching back to the mid-1800s, Port Chicago is one of the oldest Naval ordnance support bases on the West Coast. In 1942, the 13,000-acre port, located along the Sacramento River Delta in Concord, CA was annexed by Mare Island Naval Shipyard as an ammunition transshipment facility. Tragically, Port Chicago is best remembered as the site of a catastrophic explosion on July 17, 1944, that took the lives of 320 servicemen, including 202 African Americans. Five thousand tons of munitions being loaded for transport to the Pacific detonated, launching a tower of fire and smoke two miles into the sky. (Courtesy of National Park Service)
GPS:
N38° 03.450
W121° 61.783
Additional information available at http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/por.htm
GPS:
N38° 03.450
W121° 61.783
Additional information available at http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/por.htm
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