Director Stanton, John Reynolds, Superintendent Fuller, Mr. Erspamer -- and my good friends Eleanor and Freddie Meeks -- it is again a pleasure to come to this place to commemorate the men who served here at Port Chicago a half century ago. We honor those whose hard work, as members of the Navy and other services, enabled our soldiers, sailors and airmen a half a world away to wage a war for human dignity and equality even as they were denied those constitutional rights by the nation they served.

We honor those who served here, and those who died here on the night of July 17, 1944 in the worst home front catastrophe of the Second World War. Those 320 men -- black and white alike -- deserve the unending gratitude of every person in our country.

So, too, do those who survived the explosion only to once again confront the discrimination that pervaded the wartime military and wartime America. As we all know, when some of those black sailors refused to acquiesce in continuation of that bigotry, they were convicted and imprisoned for mutiny.

For over a half century, the results of that cruel prejudice stigmatized the surviving men. Ashamed and angry, they lived their lives concealing their convictions but always hoping that future generations would know them not as mutineers, but as crusaders in the long battle for justice and equality.

As we wrote the legislation that created this National Memorial a decade ago, held congressional hearings, conducted annual commemorations, we wondered if anyone was listening. When the military continually denied us an appeal we wondered if any of these men would secure the review we had sought for so long.

Last year, our hard work was rewarded and our prayers were answered. With the support of groups like the NAACP, the Black World War II Navy Veterans of Great Lakes, and the Black Hollywood Education and Research Center, and the expert assistance of the law firm of Morrison and Foerster -- and a little help from some friends in very high places -- the President of the United States issued a full pardon to Freddie Meeks of Los Angeles, California: one of the very few members of the Port Chicago 50 still with us.

I was delighted to get to know Freddie and Eleanor, to work with them and visit with them, and to celebrate this historic and overdue recognition on behalf of all of his colleagues from decades ago. I want to recognize and applaud him for having the courage and the strength to stand up and fight this last battle. This is a man who never gave up on his country, and there's an important lesson there, too.

I also want to ask us to recognize President Bill Clinton for taking personal interest in the Meeks case and for supporting the pardon appeal throughout the process. There have been ten presidents since the Port Chicago explosion. Bill Clinton is the one who used his executive authority to correct the record, and we all appreciate that leadership.

People sometimes ask why I have devoted so many years to winning this recognition for those who served and died at Port Chicago; it was decades ago, they say, many of the participants have long since passed on, and few remember what happened at this place on July 17, 1944.

And here's what I tell them: one of the great things about this country is that we have the courage to confront the past and right a wrong. We aren't afraid to rewrite history, to recognize past wrongs, and to correct past errors. Doing so makes us a stronger country, and a more united people. To better teach the entire story of Port Chicago, not just the explosion and the work stoppage, we preserved this place eight years ago as a National Memorial. And today, there are books, and films, and articles about Port Chicago teaching future generations about the role it played in the struggle for victory in war and justice for all Americans.

That is a legacy worth recognizing and remembering on this anniversary and every year.

And I just want to note that we are trying to build on this record by creating a "Rosie the Riveter Home Front Historical Park" in Richmond which will preserve the old shipyards and related facilities to instruct future Americans about the enormous contributions Americans -- and especially women and minorities -- made to win World War II. My bill passed the House unanimously this week, and had a very positive hearing in the Senate. So perhaps we will soon have a second World War II memorial in Contra Costa County to preserve the record of what this area, and those working on the home front, did to win the greatest was in history.

Thank you all again for inviting me to be a part of this memorable event.