The National Parks Conservation Association supports the bill. "We applaud Congressman Miller for introducing legislation that would incorporate Port Chicago as a full unit of our National Park System," said NPCA Bay Area Program Manager Neal Desai. "This legislation brings the nation one step closer to fully honoring those whose service and sacrifice exacted such a heavy toll, and would provide federal dollars needed to build a visitor center and hire educational rangers to educate our youth about the lessons of Port Chicago."

Thousands of tons of ammunition exploded on the night of July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in what is now Concord, CA. The blasts instantly killed 320 sailors, wounded hundreds more, and damaged and destroyed merchant ships, the pier, a train, and the buildings of Port Chicago. Less than a month after the tragedy, three divisions were ordered to resume work at a new site a few miles away. Most of the men refused to continue their dangerous tasks until supervision, training, and working conditions were improved. In response, the Navy charged fifty men with conspiring to mutiny; all were convicted.

The majority of the men killed while handling ordinance at Port Chicago, and all of those convicted of mutiny, were African-American. Their courts martial had clear racial implications, and was a turning point in the nationís history of a segregated military. Following the conviction, Thurgood Marshall, then a lawyer with the NAACP, took up the case. The Port Chicago disaster and its aftermath strongly influenced Americaís move towards racial equality, including the Navyís move toward desegregation in 1945, and President Trumanís 1948 Executive Order desegregating the Armed Forces and guaranteeing ìequality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.î

The legislation, which will be referred to the Natural Resources Committee, on which Miller sits, directs the Secretary of the Interior to administer the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial as a unit of the National Park System. In addition, when the site is determined to be excess to military needs, this new bill would transfer the property to the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior.

In order to improve public access to the Memorial, the legislation authorizes the Interior Department to work with the City of Concord and the East Bay Regional Park District to establish and operate a facility for visitor orientation and parking, administrative offices, and curatorial storage for the Memorial. The bill also directs the Defense Department and the Interior Department to work together to repair storm damage to the site.

Congressman Miller has long championed the Port Chicago issue. He worked for over a decade in Congress on behalf of Port Chicago sailors and their families to preserve the historic site. His legislation in the 1992 first designated the site of the Port Chicago Naval Magazine as a national memorial, and his subsequent efforts led to the pardon of one of the Port Chicago sailors. Since 1992, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial has been managed by the National Park Service to remind Americans of the contributions made by the Port Chicago sailors.