3 in historic crew honored aboard ship

Members of the Navy's first all-black enlisted crew visit a much different ship with the same name theirs had.

©Associated Press
April 11, 2003

PORT CANAVERAL -- Most people have heard of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Buffalo Soldiers: Americans who served in all-black military units in a segregated era. But few have heard of the heroes of the USS Mason, a warship that had the Navy's first all-black enlisted crew in 1944.

This week, three of that crew were honored guests on the third ship to be commissioned with the name USS Mason.

Benjamin Garrison, 80, Horace Banks, 85, and Winfrey Roberts, 80, toured the 510-foot ship Wednesday and met its crew.

"Welcome aboard USS Mason, your ship," said David Gale, commanding officer of the Navy's newest and most advanced guided missile destroyer.

This ship is quite different from the one they remember, Roberts said. "I'd need a road map to get around this one."

Later, the three had lunch with a crew that's about one-third black.

The growing need for manpower and pressure from activists and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt led the Navy to establish the first all-black enlisted crew on the Mason, whose officers were white.

In 1944, the Mason, a destroyer escort, began duty with a convoy of merchant and troop ships crossing the Atlantic.

During one mission, the convoy was within 100 miles of its destination, England, when it ran into a hurricane. The convoy commander split the group up, and the Mason was assigned to escort about a dozen ships to safety. As the storm raged, the Mason lost all communication and its stern began to break apart.

Desperate to stop the flow of water into the ship, sailors began emergency welding. The repairs held up and the mini-convoy made it to shore.

The ship's captain ordered the Mason back to sea, accompanied by two British warships, to assist the remaining vessels. When they hit the rough water, however, the British ships turned back. The Mason continued on.

For their bravery, the convoy commander recommended the entire crew for commendation. The recommendation was ignored for 50 years. In 1994, President Clinton awarded the commendation to the ship's 67 surviving crew members.

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