Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial

The public memorialization of the Port Chicago Naval Magazine owes much to the work of Reverend Diana McDaniel, whose uncle was one of around 1,800 men who worked at Port Chicago during World War II. These men witnessed the war’s largest loss of life on the US mainland when an explosion on July 17, 1944 killed 320 men, two thirds of whom were Black Americans, and injured hundreds more.

Keith Park is as a horticulturalist and certified arborist and maintains the historic landscapes at John Muir National Historic Site, Eugene O’Neil National Historic Site, Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park, and Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial. He received the 2021 regional Cultural Resource Award for Facility Maintenance Specialist for his outreach work with community partners and National Park Service sites across the Pacific West.

The explosion at Port Chicago Naval Magazine claimed the lives of hundreds of young African American sailors who worked under segregated and unsafe conditions. It had a deep impact on the local civilian community, the sailors’ families, and U.S. military alike. For Nancy Gilliland, it was a frightening night she never forgot. For Robert Harris, whose uncle Eugene Coffee, Jr. died in the explosion, finding out the truth about his uncle’s death has been a homecoming long in the

The Pacific Border straddles the boundaries between several of Earth's moving plates on the western margin of North America. This region is one of the most geologically young and tectonically active in North America. The generally rugged, mountainous landscape of this province provides evidence of ongoing mountain-building.

Entrance sign for the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial.