USS Mason was the first US Navy fleet vessel crewed by a majority of African American sailors.

Arthur and Estelle Ishigo navigated post-WWII life in California as an interracial couple after leaving the Heart Mountain “Relocation Center.”

From the Museum's Digitial Collections, firsthand narration to accompany the recent images from 17,500 feet below the Pacific waves. 

On Memorial Day and every day, the name of Richard McCurdy, killed in action during Operation Torch, and other boys like him should be kept alive and their sacrifices and those of their families remembered. They were and are part of a nation, a city, a neighborhood, and a family.

Hundreds of the ship's crew floated on the Pacific for days. Their location and fate were unknown to the US Navy.