"No one better underestimate the Mason or speak against it." That was the attitude of the crew in 1944. Underestimating the resolve of the crew or Mary Pat Kelly to get the story told was also a mistake. After so many years and after so much change in American attitudes towards race, there were still obstacles to overcome.

Some considered the story "too negative." Amazingly, some naval historians doubted the veracity of the Mason story -- since they had never heard about it. But the crew didn't lie. Nor did the US Navy records unearthed by Mary Pat Kelly. And the photos of those young men at sea facing German submarines and escorting convoys didn't lie.

Until Proudly We Served, those documents had been buried in naval records. Those historians were unaware of a vital piece of history. The photos, many in the National Archives, had only been seen by crew members' close friends and families in scrapbooks brought out on special occasions.

But those memories, photo albums, and scrapbooks, including Captain Blackford's, couldn't be denied. Through the crew's determination to successfully complete one more mission, we have a book, a documentary, a website, and finally a feature film.

Description of the original hardback edition:

224 Pages
50 photos
Appendixes, Index, 6x9 inches.
ISBN 55750-453-9
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1995

At a time when most African American sailors were relegated to service as cooks and waiters, the African American crew of USS Mason made history by escorting six convoys across the Atlantic, performing all the duties of seamanship needed to take a warship into combat. This is the story of their experiences.

It is a collective memoir, compiled by best selling author and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Mary Pat Kelly from extensive interviews with surviving crew members and new research in Navy records made public for the first time. Never before has the story of the Mason been told from the crew's point of view. They recall incidents of prejudice exhibited by other ship's crews and discrimination at most port calls, but mostly their story is a positive one that focuses on their highly successful shipboard experiences. They mastered all rates and skills, moving at accelerated paces from the lowest to highest enlisted ranks, and proved they could perform combat duties as well as or better than white sailors ...

... Their candid comments about race relations in both the wartime Navy and American society at large contribute significantly to the social history of the United States as well as to the history of the U.S. Navy.