port chicago naval magazine national memorial

Getting out here takes a bit of planning, but it's worth it. You meet a shuttle bus and Park Ranger at the gate and confirm your clearance. You then drive with the Ranger through MOTCO (Military Ocean Terminal Concord), which is an active base. The memorial is very nicely done, and our guide was great. You also get to check out one of the ammo car revetments. We also happened to be there at the same time as a 4 star general!

We tried several times to visit the memorial but each time the U.S. Army cancelled the planned visit. We got smart on our fourth try and decided to schedule our visit (you must schedule weeks in advance) for the 69th Annual Commemoration. We finally made it, although I heard the Army did try to cancel the commemoration as well because they had a ship coming in that they wanted to load. Anyway, it was very sobering to be reminded of how poorly the black sailors were treated and the commemoration did not shy away from the difficult issues. If anyone plans to visit the site I recommend they do so during one of the annual commemorations.

Ranger Matt did an excellent job of presenting this story of the tragedy and its (for us) unappreciated place in history. We missed out when we last visited San Francisco because we didn't realize that reservations needed to be request two weeks in advance.