Hiram Crittenden was the first volunteer to pursue a new legal strategy to restore honor to U.S. Navy sailors stationed at Port Chicago in Contra Costa County, where a massive explosion during World War II killed 320 people, injured 400 more and effectively vaporized nearby cargo ships and military facilities.
Following the seismic blast in July 1944, his father, Jack P. Crittenden, was among 258 primarily young, Black sailors charged with mutiny and disobeying wartime orders after they refused to continue loading munitions without knowing what had triggered the explosion at the naval base tucked along the shores of Suisun Bay.
The junior Crittenden, 66, who splits his time between Georgia and Alabama, was also one of the first to receive official news in July that each of those men, including his father, had been exonerated by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro — a long-sought victory announced exactly 80 years after the seismic blast, and seven years after the elder Crittenden died at the age of 92.
But Crittenden and other community advocates say their work isn’t over yet.
Hiram Crittenden and his wife Sharon Crittenden with Navy Cmdr. Dana Chapin in 2022. (Photo courtesy Hiram Crittenden)
While Del Toro agreed the charges were “a tremendous wrong” that had haunted and disadvantaged hundreds of sailors and their families, advocates say the Navy’s exoneration has not prompted corrections to any of the Port Chicago sailors’ separation records, which still characterize their discharges as “general under honorable circumstances.”
Essentially, anything less than “honorable” acts as a stain on veterans’ records, which can limit benefits and job opportunities.
Since February, Crittenden has been attempting to correct his father’s paperwork by utilizing a bureaucratic mechanism for reviewing and revising clerical errors: the Navy’s Board of Correction for Naval Records process.
While it is a new approach to the Port Chicago effort, Tyler Baylis, an associate at the law firm Sidley Austin, which is leading this pro-bono project, pulled inspiration from the Buffalo Soldiers stationed at Fort Sam Houston. The Army used this same form in its decision to set aside convictions of 110 Black soldiers involved in World War I-era riots.
Working alongside the Port Chicago Task Force, Port Chicago Alliance and the Contra Costa Bar Association since 2023, Baylis said he hopes that this straightforward military form available to all veterans — commonly known as a DD-214 — can forge a clear-cut path for families of Port Chicago sailors and others to follow.
The Port Chicago memorial was created in 1994, commemorating the site where hundreds of sailors and civilians were killed in the July 1944 explosion during the loading of munitions onto a cargo vessel.
The firm, which is prepared to posthumously represent the Port Chicago sailors charged with mutiny, “came in at the 11th hour to try something new, using the Navy’s tools that are already available to other veterans,” Baylis said. “The thought was, if they deny one application, we have 49 more that we can continue to try. Hiram was the one that made that possible — without him, that wasn’t going to be an option.”
The Navy publicly pledged in July to upgrade the Port Chicago sailors’ discharge paperwork and evaluate possible restitution to the sailors’ descendants, who were denied myriad benefits after their family members served their country.
However, military officials have not yet clarified what options are available, and it is unclear how they will address each sailors’ unique circumstances. Considering the 258 sailors who were exonerated in July, this advocacy has the potential to impact thousands of grandchildren and great grandchildren who are potentially overdue for education, back pay and housing benefits.
For now, Baylis, who is also a U.S. Navy veteran, said his team is focused on just the first steps to correct military records through DD-214 forms.
This image provided by Naval History and Heritage Command shows the view looks south from the munitions pier showing the wreckage of the Building A-7 Joiner Shop, right, from the July 17, 1944 explosion at Port Chicago naval weapons station near San Francisco. (Naval History and Heritage Command/Mare Island Navy Yard via AP)
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However, one massive roadblock to this restorative justice work remains: attorneys and advocates are still working to identify and connect with family members of the men stationed at Port Chicago eight decades ago — people who either don’t know that the Naval records technicality is not corrected, or don’t realize that their loved ones were associated with Port Chicago at all.
Crittenden’s father didn’t share his story until investigative reporters started asking questions 25 years after the explosion — a powerful reminder why Crittenden and Baylis are continuing their fight months after the Navy’s historic exoneration.
“This is an important step in corrective justice because these men left their service feeling like they were criminals or even worse, traitors,” Baylis said. “It’s important that the Navy’s made a lot of strides, but I just don’t want to wait another 80 years to see these families get the things that we’re fighting for.”
As Crittenden continues this legal work to help bring healing, closure and support for families like his, he’s directly echoing his father’s legacy.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton offered a pardon to the last three living Port Chicago veterans. Jack Crittenden refused, unwilling to admit to any wrongdoing. Additionally, he championed the casualties during the Port Chicago explosion, calling on the Navy to give fair compensation to the families of Black sailors who received three-fifths of the benefits given to white families.
“That kind of service, dedication and commitment to helping another person was just in him — (my father) was that kind of fellow,” Crittenden said. “This is not just not about me or granddaddy Jack — I’m trying to pave the road for someone behind me, so that it may be a little easier of a walk for them.”
If any family members of the defendants of the 1944 Port Chicago general and summary courts-martial would like to reach out to the Department of the Navy for future notifications on the topic or more information, please reach out to PortChicago@us.navy.mil, or 703-697-5342.
Sailors work on the piers at Port Chicago Naval Magazine. (U.S. Navy Photo. Courtesy of Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial)
