Race Riots within the military! My Story ( the moderator )
In 1964, President Johnson signed the civil rights Act. Not long after, I saw a black sailor get murdered in an Enlisted Man's club ("The Sky Club") at Subic Bay, PI. I didn't know who the black sailor was but the white sailor who stabbed/slashed him in the throat bunked right across from me. All hell broke loose on board the aircraft carrier I was attached to, the Bon Homme Richard CVA 31. A fight erupted in the club and mushroomed into a severe riot that moved aboard ship. The Marines and Shore Patrol were called out but were unable to gain control until the early morning. During that time, the EXO was knocked out in hanger bay 1 as gangs of blacks and whites were hunting each other below decks. I have spent the last 38 years with the vision of this horrible event. What was the family of the black sailor told? Would the murderer ever be brought up on charges?
While researching this Aug 64 death and riot, I discovered other riots that happened in 1966 and 1967 where two other black sailors were murdered. Another shocking and well documented of these riots was the "Kitty Hawk Incident" in 1972. All of these events started in that same EM club in Subic Bay, PI.
The incident I witnessed, to my knowledge, has never been made public but I have provided proof that it did from other shipmates.
The intent of this site is to create a place for others to step forward with their stories. I am in the process of writing about my experience and would like other veterans stories to add to it. I call it "The War within the War"
posted by Douglas "Sandy" MacKay @ 4:28 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Your right I was aboard the bonnie dick that night and I remember coming back from liberty on the cattle cars (the semi trucks with windows) a lot of tension. I headed to my bunk and curled out.
I also fights break out in a club in subic which a guy in the print shop predicted.
I stumbled into your blog because of your listing of Iron John among books. I'm glad I visited. You're sharing history that I don't recall, that seems to have been pushed under the rug. It leaves one to wonder how much more do we not know in our free society? I applaud your bravery in creating this site.
I was on the Providecne i was captains engineer ran whale boat tranfere some over to our sick bay THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I EVER SAW THIS ANY WHERE
My name is Charles O. Donaldson, Jr.I'm a Navy ( Airman E-3) Vietnam Veteran
that was part of the VA-195 Flight Squadron from 1969-July 17,1971.
We boarded the USS Kitty Hawk around Nov./Dec.,1970
(WesPac) for Combat Operation in Vietnam.
I was trained as a 'Aircraft Mechanic',
and worked as a 'Plane Captain' on the new A7 Corsair Aircraft Jet.
There was a RACE RIOT in 1971, which I personally tried to stopped,
and quell it, but the mob just pushed me aside, but I did manage to save a few White sailors
from getting beat after being ambushed or awaken in their bunk-beds.
However, The USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) Ship Commanders accused me in 1971
of being one the Leaders, which I was not.
However, I was unfairly Charged in a 'Captain Mass' in 1971
and sentenced to NOT TO LEAVE TO USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63)on our last
RR stop at 'Subic Bay' Naval Base in the Phillipines before sailing back to the US in 1971.
I was honorably discharge when USS Kitty Hawk(CVA-63) arrived back to San Diego, CA. on July 17, 1971.
________
I found plenty of info on the 1972 Race Riot,but NO info on the 1971 Race Riot;
If you can Remember 1971 USS Kitty hawk (CVA-63) Race Riot;
PLEASE email me your statement TO: Chas_Donaldson@hotmail.com
Thanks,
Charles Donaldson
My name is William Scott. The fight at the club began between myself and a drunken Marine from the Kittyhawk. I was a sailor from the USS Blueridge. I am black. The marine was white. He attacked me. I defended myself and was attacked by other whites in the club. When the shore patrol came they only intended to arrest me. An old man outside the club told them that I did not start the fight and they took the HANDCUFFS OFF ME AND TOOK ME TO THE HOSPITAL. I realized that they were not going to arrest the whites so I left the hospital and went back to the club. Other blacks had followed me to the club having heard about the incident and seeing my battered state. At this time the riot began in the Subic area and traveled back to both the Kittyhawk and the Conty.
My name is Charles Sherrill I was a PFC in the US Marines in 1971 when my infantry company was ordered from San Diego to the huge US Naval base situated at Cam Ranh Bay, Republic of Vietnam. Racial incidents were a chronic ongoing condition at every Marine base and Marine unit I had ever been in. Racial clashes on the Marine bases both abroad and stateside were being reported worst in the worldwide US military. With the most notorious conflicts being Camp Lejeune, NC and the US Marine concentrations on tiny Okinawa. And both of these installations the situation many times was state of emergency. On payday weekends, the MP's that patrolled downtown Naha, Jacksonville, NC, and Oceanside, Ca operated in 30 man clusters and still rarely restored the required level of order. My squad leader was on his second tour in Vietnam and he said Okinawa was much more dangerous than many posts in Vietnam and he was right. A key investigation revealed that a small but always present number of racial instigators or agitators throughout the ranks were a constant factor in all the ongoing violence. Also the forced integration policies that was being imposed throughout the US military was something no American population had then yet known. Which to most everybody became the primary fuel of the escalating conflict. It became obvious the Pentagon segregated the US armed forces all those long years for good reason. Because it avoided the complete breakdown that was now happening and it clearly hurt nothing.
Charles so you are literally sayimg that the segregation was a good thing
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