Black Sailor, White Navy: Racial Unrest in the Fleet during the Vietnam War Era

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments The U.S. Naval Historical Center (NHC) is the U.S. Navy’s institutional memory. Its staff of historians, archivists, librarians, archaeologists , curators, and naval personnel work conscientiously to preserve the history of America’s Navy. In one way or another, every member of the command contributed something to this book. Our director, Rear Admiral Paul Tobin, USN (Ret.), not only supported this project throughout but carefully read the manuscript and offered unique insights stemming from his service as the aide and flag secretary to Commander Naval Forces Vietnam. His predecessor, Dr. William Dudley, signed off on this project even though he understood that this book focused on a tumultuous and controversial period of the Navy’s history. A special thank you as well to two NHC deputy directors : Captains Duane Heughan and Peter Wheeler. As any historian will attest, the road to success is “generally paved by footnotes.” Finding the sources for those notes, especially for a subject such as this one, required a bit of luck, a bit of sleuthing, and a lot of hands-on assistance from archivists, librarians, and other staff members . NHC personnel who assisted me include Robert Cressman, Linda Edwards, Davis Elliott, Mark Evans, Edwin Finney, Dale (Joe) Gordon, Roy Grossnick, Charles Haberlein, Robert Hanshew, John Hodges, Kevin Hurst, Ariana Jacob, Dan Jones, Ken Johnson, J. Allen Knechtmann , Heidi Myers, Young Park, Timothy Pettit, Tonya Simpson, Curtis Utz, and Joel Westphal. Glenn Helm, the director of the Navy Department Library and a subject matter expert on the Vietnam War, provided a wealth of reference tips. Bernard “Cal” Cavalcante, the former senior archivist at NHC, guided me to many valuable materials in the Records of the Chief of Naval Operations, known as the 00 Records. Kathy Lloyd, chief of the Navy’s Operational Archives, provided me with special archival training and then granted me direct stack access to records. Dr. Regina Akers, an NHC archivist with a subject specialty in vii the history of African Americans and women’s history, offered valuable research advice from the very beginning of the project. Dr. Akers also reviewed the manuscript and provided many valuable suggestions on how to improve it. The active duty, reserve, and retired sailors at the U.S. Naval Historical Center are a font of “hands-on” knowledge about the sea services. In fact, it was a reserve chief petty officer, Charles (Dan) Springston, who originally showed me a large trove of files pertaining to racial unrest in the Zumwalt personal papers. Captain Charles Creekman, USN (Ret.), the head of the Naval Historical Foundation, answered numerous questions about naval regulations and law. Commander Gregory Contaoi, USN, of the History and Archives Division, explained the duties of a division head on a warship and answered many questions about enlisted ratings. Other naval personnel who assisted me include Lieutenant Cory Durant, USN; Yeoman Second Class Deborah Johnson , USN; Commander Jeremy Gillespie, USN; and Commander Dave Winkler, USNR. The review for declassification, freedom of information, and privacy of every manuscript produced by U.S. government employees can be long and arduous, but three experts streamlined the process for this publication: Ella Nargelle of NHC; Master Chief Alfred H. Jensen, USN (Ret.) of McNeil Technologies; and David Daley of the Naval Criminal and Investigative Service. Professor Eugenia C. Kiesling of the U.S. Military Academy provided a helpful non-Navy review of the book. Oral histories were vital for this project. Thank you to the following individuals for participating in interviews or answering specific questions about the period: Terry Avinger, Douglas Beadle, Wallace Bennett, H. Hollister Cantus, Nicholas Carlucci, Hank Casserleigh, Marvin Davidson, Robert Keel, Orville McGuire, James B. Morin, Carl Morris, John Murcko, Adolf Neumann, Owen Oberg, Robert Olds, Manuel Sabal, John Schaub, Calvin Schmid, Frank Stoval, J. D. Ward, Virgil Werner, and James Yacabucci. Several Navy veterans not only agreed to interviews but also checked part or all of the manuscript for factual accuracy . They include Benjamin Cloud, Patrick McGinty, William S. Norman, and Marland Townsend. A very special thank you to the former chief of naval operations, Admiral James L. Holloway, III USN (Ret.), for taking time out of his schedule to review and comment on several sections of the book that examine his policies and career. Secretary of the Navy John Lehman established NHC’s Contempoviii | Acknowledgments rary History Branch in 1987, believing that the Navy would benefit...