see no white boys out there they figured that “You didn’t loading,” said another sailor, William Gay. “I guess was all we were good for. “ [On 17 July 1944 shortly after 10:18 pm, two explosions occurred within seconds of each other.] The 1200 foot pier was simply gone. The locomotive and ammunition boxcars that had been on the pier at the time of the blast had disintegrated. The only piece of the in sight was its upright stern, sticking Quinalt Victory up from the water just offshore. Of the which had been packed with nearly ten million pounds of E.A. Bryan, explosives, nothing visible remained. The ship had essentially exploded like one gigantic bomb -- one of the biggest man-made explosions in history to that point. . . . Every single person aboard the two ships, and everyone on the pier, had been instantly killed. A total of 320 men were dead, 202 of them black sailors been loading ammunition. Another 390 men, mostly sailors in who’d the barracks, were injured.
“You didn’t see no white boys out there loading,” said another sailor, William Gay. “I guess they figured that was all we were good for. “ [On 17 July 1944 shortly after 10:18 pm, two explosions occurred within seconds of each other.] The 1200 foot pier was simply gone. The locomotive and ammunition boxcars that had been on the pier at the time of the blast had disintegrated. The only piece of the Quinalt Victory in sight was its upright stern, sticking up from the water just offshore. Of the E.A. Bryan, which had been packed with nearly ten million pounds of explosives, nothing visible remained. The ship had essentially exploded like one gigantic bomb -- one of the biggest man-made explosions in history to that point. . . . Every single person aboard the two ships, and everyone on the pier, had been instantly killed. A total of 320 men were dead, 202 of them black sailors who’d been loading ammunition. Another 390 men, mostly sailors in the barracks, were injured.
Port%20Chicago%20Lesson_0.docx