The History of the Concord Naval Weapons Station

The Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS) was established in 1942 near the East Bay cities of Concord and Martinez. It served as an ammunition loading dock for the navy, helping send supplies to the Pacific war theater.

The navy implemented racial labor segregation, assigning the most dangerous jobs to black sailors. One of the most dangerous jobs in the navy was loading and transporting bombs and other ammunition. The black sailors performing these jobs were not trained in the proper handling of cargo, let alone explosives. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union warned the navy that they needed trained union workers otherwise there might be dangerous accidents. The navy ignored these warnings and cast aside grievances published by the The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. To make matters worse, the white navy superiors decided a speed-up was necessary, and began demanding the loading and transportation be done at unsafely high speeds.

On the evening of July 17th, 1944 these unsafe labor practises resulted in a massive explosion. Two munition ships were completely destroyed. 322 servicemen were killed and another 390 wounded. Of those killed, 202 were black. Those deaths were 15 percent of all black American deaths in all of World War Two. The massive blast damaged and destroyed nearby buildings and broke windows as far away as the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco. The Navy asked congress to give the families of each of the dead $5,000, but when congress found out that most of the dead were black, they lowered this number to $3,000. Civilians in the nearby town of Port Chicago were given on average $1,300 to rebuild their damaged and destroyed homes and businesses. Then the Navy attempted to force the survivors back to work in the same conditions as before. 250 black sailors refused to go back to loading ammunition cargo. They stated that they were willing to obey any other order but would not load munitions. Most of these men were trained to be sailors and wanted to be placed on board a ship. The navy chaplin attempted to shame the men into going back to work, urging them that it was their duty to their country, their race and God. When that did not work, these men were arrested and threatened to be placed before a firing squad for mutiny. Though all said they feared another explosion, the fear of a firing squad was great enough to convince all but 50 of these men to return to work.

These remaining 50 men were charged with and found guilty of mutiny. They were each sentenced to eight to fifteen years of hard labor. The black and liberal communities responded to the sentence trial with outrage. Civilian pressure was placed on the navy to end segregation within its ranks. The Port Chicago mutiny, along with other instances of racial injustice, such as the Agana race riot, placed enough pressure on the navy that the gradual first steps to end racial segregation began. With the war over, in 1946 the Port Chicago mutineers were granted clemency and released from prison, but their conviction of mutiny stood. Though they were released from prison, these men were not out of the navy, and were sent out to the South Pacific for a "probationary period" before finally being released into civilian life. The last racially segregated unit of the United States armed forces was finally deactivated in 1956.

Though over 300 local homes were damaged by the 1944 explosion, the small town of Port Chicago rebuilt what was damaged and its citizens stayed where they were. By the 1960s the military was determined to expand the naval base. Its usefulness in places like Vietnam and the fact that nuclear weapons were being stored there made a larger base much more desirable. Starting in 1966 the military bought up 5,000 acres of the surrounding land. This including forcing the residents of Port Chicago to leave their homes. The residents of the town resisted as best they could. One man faced sheriff officers and navy bulldozers with a shotgun in hand. But this little community was no match for the US government. The 3,500 residents of the town were forced to relocate.

Throughout the 1980s the Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS) was a large shipping point for weapons, ammunition and bombs being shipped down into Central and South America in support of right-wing military and paramilitary groups. The CNWS became the site of numerous pacifist and anti-war protests during that decade. Often, protests were held daily for weeks at a time. Tactics included nonviolent blockades and month-long fasts.

In the summer of 1987 a campaign called Nuremberg Action was called to escalate the noncooperation and resistance against militarization and CIA involvement in Latin America. One of the goals was to nonviolently stop the movement of munitions into and out of the base. Thousands came and almost four hundred were arrested, including author Alice Walker. Later that year another protest took place where protesters sat or laid on the train tracks going into and out of the base. As the 100-ton ammunitions train approached, rather than slowing down or stopping, it sped up. All but one of the protesters were able to jump off the track at the last moment. One man, Brian Willson was not so lucky. The train ran him over, dragged him for 25 feet, cut off both of his legs, broke 19 of his bones and fractured his skull. All while his wife and stepson watched in horror.

Willson was one of about a dozen military veterans at the action, having served in the Vietnam War. During his time in Vietnam he changed from a young conservative to someone questioning the values and actions of his government. He became involved in prison reform and anti-war efforts with groups like Vietnam Veterans for Peace. He spent months in Nicaragua and El Salvador talking to human rights activists and witnessing the brutality of the Contras and other CIA backed groups. When he sat down on the train tracks he was well aware that he could face up to a year in prison for doing so, but also believed that it was his responsibility to escalate the resistance against militarization.

Somehow, Willson was able to survive. After getting out of the hospital he was able to use the publicity from the tragedy to go on a speaking tour promoting pacifist ideals and urging citizens to become active in demanding the end of US intervention in Latin America and the rest of the world.

Days after being hit by the train, while Willson was still in the hospital, around 400 protesters stormed a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) office on the UC Berkeley campus. Two windows were broken, the door was damaged and political slogans were painted on the walls.

Days later close to 7,000 people rallied in from the CNWS in honor of Willson. Attendees included Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez and Rosario Murillo -- The First Lady of Nicaragua. Protesters ripped up the train tracks where Willson's blood stains were still visible and created a barricade in front of the entrance to the naval base. From that day on, there was a 24-hour peace vigil at the entrance of the base. Trains and trucks entering the base were subject to nonviolent blockades. This lasted every day for the following two years.

Today much of the CNWS is decommissioned, and most of the land section of the base will be handed over to the city of Concord which plans to develop a third of the land and have the rest be open space and park land.