D Day 1944 Game

[Griselda Humbarger]

TheHonorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, made the announcement on the 80th anniversary of an explosion that occurred at Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California. The explosion killed 320 people, injured 400 others, destroyed two ships and a train, and caused damage to the nearby town of Port Chicago.

Secretary Del Toro expressed his deepest condolences for the Sailors, civilians, Coast Guardsmen, members of the U.S. Maritime Service, and one Marine who lost their lives and for their family members.

In the absence of clarity on the explosions or further safety training, 258 African-American Sailors refused to resume ammunition handling. After threats of disciplinary action, 208 of the Sailors returned to work; however, the Navy still subsequently convicted all 208 Sailors at a summary court-martial for disobeying orders.

During subsequent reviews of the general court-martial, the Dishonorable Discharges were suspended and the period of confinement was reduced from 15 years to 17-29 months. One conviction was also set aside for mental incompetency. By January 1946, nearly all the Sailors were released and given the opportunity to finish their contracts.

After a thorough review of the case and related materials, the General Counsel of the Navy concluded that there were significant legal errors during the courts-martial. The defendants were improperly tried together despite conflicting interests and denied a meaningful right to counsel.

If any family members of the defendants of the 1944 Port Chicago general and summary courts-martial would like to reach out to the Department of the Navy for future notifications on the topic or more information, please reach out to PortC...@us.navy.mil, or 703-697-5342.

The Mexican waters of the international Rio Grande Basin are vital to ensuring that Texas water right holders can irrigate crops, supply water to municipalities, and conduct industrial operations along the Rio Grande. Under the 1944 Treaty, Mexico has an obligation to deliver to the United States 1,750,000 acre-feet (AF) of water over a five-year cycle, at an average of 350,000 AF annually for the five-year cycle. The United States International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), oversees the 1944 Water Treaty for the United States as well as helps settle differences that may arise.

The United States continues to meet their annual obligation of 1.5 million AF from the Colorado River. Thus, it is imperative that Mexico consistently meets their Treaty obligations each year, as well as every cycle, because Texas relies on this water source. Without the required Treaty waters, Texas must decrease allocations of water from the international reservoirs (Amistad and Falcon), to Texas water right holders along the Rio Grande. Allocations are made by the Rio Grande Watermaster Program, which is part of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The Second World War was a powerful catalyst for the technical development of the aeroplane. A vast network of passenger and freight carriage was set up during this period, but there were many obstacles, both political and technical, to evolving these facilities and routes to their new civilian purposes.

Subsequent to several studies initiated by the United States, as well as various consultations it undertook with its Major Allies, the U.S. government extended an invitation to 55 States to attend an International Civil Aviation Conference in Chicago in 1944.

These delegates met at a very dark time in human history and travelled to Chicago at great personal risk. Many of the countries they represented were still occupied. In the end, 54 of the 55 States invited attended the Chicago Conference, and by its conclusion on 7 December, 1944, 52 of them had signed the new Convention on International Civil Aviation which had been realized.

The Chicago Convention also formalized the expectation that a specialized International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would be established, in order to organize and support the intensive international co-operation which the fledgling global air transport network would require.

Because of the usual delays expected in ratifying the Convention, the Chicago Conference presciently signed an Interim Agreement which foresaw the creation of a Provisional ICAO (PICAO) to serve as a temporary advisory and coordinating body.

On 4 April 1947, upon sufficient ratifications to the Chicago Convention, the provisional aspects of the PICAO were no longer relevant and it officially became known as ICAO. The first official ICAO Assembly was held in Montreal in May of that year.

Citation: An act to provide Federal Government aid for the readjustment in civilian life of returning World War II veterans, June 22,1944; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1996; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, this act, also known as the G.I. Bill, provided World War II veterans with funds for college education, unemployment insurance, and housing. It put higher education within the reach of millions of veterans of WWII and later military conflicts.

While World War II was still being fought, the Department of Labor estimated that, after the war, 15 million men and women who had been serving in the armed services would be unemployed. To reduce the possibility of postwar depression brought on by widespread unemployment, the National Resources Planning Board, a White House agency, studied postwar manpower needs as early as 1942 and in June 1943 recommended a series of programs for education and training.

Within the following seven years, approximately eight million veterans received educational benefits. Under the act, approximately 2,300,000 attended colleges and universities, 3,500,000 received school training, and 3,400,000 received on-the-job training. The number of degrees awarded by U.S. colleges and universities more than doubled between 1940 and 1950, and the percentage of Americans with bachelor degrees, or advanced degrees, rose from 4.6 percent in 1945 to 25 percent a half-century later.

Unfortunately, not all veterans were able to take advantage of the benefits of the G.I. Bill. Black vets were often unable to get bank loans for mortgages in Black neighborhoods, and they faced prejudice and discrimination that overwhelming excluded them from buying homes in "white" suburban neighborhoods.

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AN ACT

To provide Federal Government aid for the readjustment in civilian life of returning World War II veterans.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944".

SEC. 100. The Veterans' Administration is hereby declared to be an essential war agency and entitled, second only to the War and Navy Departments, to priorities in personnel, equipment, supplies, and material under any laws, Executive orders, and regulations pertaining to priorities, and in appointments of personnel from civil-service registers the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is hereby granted the same authority and discretion as the War and Navy Departments and the United States Public Health Service: Provided, That the provisions of this section as to priorities for materials shall apply to any State institution to be built for the care or hospitalization of veterans.

SEC. 101. The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs and the Federal Board of Hospitalization are hereby authorized and directed to expedite and complete the construction of additional hospital facilities for war veterans, and to enter into agreements and contracts for the use by or transfer to the Veterans' Administration of suitable Army and Navy hospitals after termination of hostilities in the present war or after such institutions are no longer needed by the armed services; and the Administrator of Veterans Affairs is hereby authorized and directed to establish necessary regional offices, sub- offices, branch offices, contact units, or other subordinate offices in centers of population where there is no Veterans' Administration facility, or where such a facility is not readily available or accessible : Provided, That there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $500,000,000 for the construction of additional hospital facilities.

SEC. 102. The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs and the Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy are hereby granted authority to enter into agreements and contracts for the mutual use or exchange of use of hospital and domiciliary facilities, and such supplies, equipment, and material as may be needed to operate properly such facilities, or for the transfer, without reimbursement of appropriations, of facilities, supplies, equipment, or material necessary and proper for authorized care for veterans, except that at no time shall the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs enter into any agreement which will result in a permanent reduction of Veterans' Administration hospital and domiciliary beds below the number now established or approved, plus the estimated number required to meet the load of eligibles under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, or in any way subordinate or transfer the operation of the Veterans' Administration to any other agency of the Government.

Nothing in the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, or any other Act, shall be construed to prevent the transfer or detail of any commissioned, appointed or enlisted personnel from the armed forces to the Veterans Administration subject to agreements between the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy and the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs: Provided, That no such detail shall be made or extend beyond six months after the termination of the war.

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