Incidents of Insurrection

During World War II, Townsville, Queensland, Australia was a crucial base for American and Australian campaigns in the Pacific, including the Battle of the Coral Sea. It remains an Australian military base today.

Though never reported to or by the American press, in May 1942 Townsville was also the site of one of the biggest troop uprising within the US military. The shootings and rioting were by American Negro soldiers.

And it was not the first or last such racial and armed conflict in Australia.

In April 1942 a large contingent of American Negro troops arrived in Townsville. These Negroes had been trained very minimally in military discipline or behavior. They were basically American laborers brought in to help build airfields around Townsville. As per strict US military order, all officers were White, although there were Negro non-commissioned officers. Negro troops were very rarely committed to actual combat. These soldiers were from the 96th Battalion, US Army Corps of Engineers and were stationed at a base on the western outskirts of Townsville. This base was known as "Kelso".

Shortly after arrival, 100 Negro troops created a racial conflict near their base and had to be rounded up by the US Marines using bayonets and loaded rifles.

In May 1942, racial tensions between the White officers and Negro troops escalated to the point where several Negro ringleaders decided to machine gun the tents of the White officers. Thousands of rounds were fired, the White officers returned fire and estimates up to 19 personnel were killed and dozens more seriously wounded. Negro soldiers rampaged from the camp, terrorizing surrounding Australian homes and at least one rape was reported. The overall siege lasted over 8 hours.

Fully armed Australian troops  along with the Queensland Police and the Townsville Police were called in to roadblock the rioters from entering the city. The official accounts of these incidents are still in police archives.

The violence was subdued and many of the Negro rioters packed off to New Guinea.

Though kept completely secret by the Roosevelt administration, the whole affair was severe enough that in 1942, US Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson went to Australia and spent 3 days in Townsville. Johnson was given and examined official US and Australian military accounts of the Negro rioting and also the eyewitness report of a US journalist who was stationed at Kelso. But despite this, the rebellion was never reported by the US press but instead filed away in the national archives. President Roosevelt did not want any details of this racial incident to ever come out and, in fact, in 1943 Eleanor Roosevelt herself was dispatched to visit a newly established "Negro Only" service club in Townsville.

There were about 10,000 American Negro servicemen sent to Australia during the war. Australia had a very strict racial segregation. In 1942 there were also other clashes involving Negro GIs at Torrens Creek, Ingham, and Mt Isa, in Australia.

Later in 1944 in another part of the Pacific there was one of the most serious racial incident between Negro navy personnel and US Marines.

In July 1944 the 3rd Marine Division retook Guam from the Japanese at the cost of 1,600 Marine lives. Guam was turned into a base for allied operations. Five large airfields were constructed by the SeaBeas. B-29 super bombers could fly as far a mainland Japan.

In late August 1944, just a few weeks after already battle worn Marines had been exposed to the most vicious fighting and hand-to-hand combat with Japanese defenders, the all Negro 25th Depot Company of the US Navy started landing operations at the Naval Supply Depot. There sparked immediate tensions and minor incidents between the White Marines and the Negro naval personnel.

On Christmas Eve 1944, nine Negro Marines from the 25th Depot Company were on pass and went into Agana. There was a confrontation  between the Negroes and White Marines, supposedly shots were fired at the Negroes who were forced to flee back to the base. Eight were OK, one Negro Marine was missing.

In re-action, 40 Negro enlisted men piled into two trucks and started off toward Agana to find the missing man. However the MPs in Agana were informed and the MPs proceeded to erect barricades across all roads leading into Agana. The two trucks were stopped, there was a brief standoff but when the Negroes were told that the missing man had been found and was OK, they returned to their base.

On Christmas Day 1944, a Negro enlisted man walking back to camp from Agana was shot dead by two White Marines. Shortly thereafter another Negro enlisted man was shot and killed in Agana.

On December 26 1944, a vehicle driven by White Marines opened gunfire on the Negro depot. Camp guards returned fire and a White officer was wounded. The vehicle fled toward Agana;  behind them a number of armed Negro personnel. All vehicles were stopped by White MPs at a roadblock outside of Agana. All participants White or Negro were arrested and charged with attempted murder, rioting, unlawful assembly, and theft of government property.

At the Court of Inquiry, 45 Negro military personnel were court martialed and sent to prison.