Chief Concerns

Problems arose between the crew and white chief petty officers aboard ship. Captain Blackford interceded after the chief radioman told the captain everything would be alright if Blackford kept "them" (the crew) in "their place."

As Mary Pat Kelly writes in Proudly We Served, "Blackford was determined his ship be treated as any other and respected for the job the crew did. "

By the time the Mason was decommissioned, all the chief petty officers were black.

We love you, Chief!

"The captain met with all the chiefs separately. He wanted to discuss any friction on the ship. Now, this meeting was confidential, but we found out what he said. There's no such thing as a secret in the navy. ... The chief radioman told the captain that everything would be alright if we were kept in our place. ... The chiefs wanted us to go over the deck and climb down through a hatch instead of walking through the quarters. Imagine trying to do this in a rough sea. Now, this was against navy regulations, but they wanted to take advantage of their position. And they were laying out demands to the captain -- what he had to do to keep them happy. ...

... But the captain transferred them off the ship the very next day after that meeting. As the chief radioman was leaving the ship he turned and just spewed his hatred to the men. He said he didn't give a damn what happened to us. He hoped that we got out there in that ocean, some submarine would hit us and destroy every one of us.

One of the guys yelled back, 'We love you chief.' And we all took it up. We hollered, 'We love you. We love you.' That was about the final word from him. He stomped off that ship and just went away."

-- Lorenzo Dufau, Signalman, Second Class

Holiday Preparations

After the crew serenaded the departing chief, the deck log reports that conditions improved immediately. 

In a letter to his parents dated 18 December 1944, Captain Blackford said, "We have a big Christmas celebration planned if it isn't too rough, and I am supposed to preach a sermon!"

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