CONCORD — One hour meant the difference between life and death for Morris Soublet Sr., a 22-year-old sailor assigned during World War II to load ammunition at Port Chicago, a remote naval base constructed between Martinez and Pittsburg in Contra Costa County.
By returning to his Navy barracks earlier than usual on the night of July 17, 1944, he narrowly avoided joining the list of 320 men — many of whom were Black — who were killed in a series of catastrophic explosions which effectively vaporized the naval base.
In the aftermath of the disaster, hundreds of Black sailors who refused to return to work loading cluster bombs, ammunitions, mines and other explosives onto ships bound for the Pacific theater were charged with mutiny and disobeying wartime orders.
Saturday morning, Soublet’s son Richard joined more than 400 other family members, community activists and elected officials who gathered near the remnants of the loading docks where his father led crews loading ammunition, commemorating the Navy’s decision to fully exonerate all men on the 80th anniversary of the explosion, which was the deadliest military disaster on mainland American soil during World War II.
Following speeches from several people who recounted the hard-fought pursuit for exoneration, a wreath was released into Suisun Bay, joined by dozens of flowers thrown by attendees in their honor.
Richard was a teenager when he first heard snippets of his father’s…
