Two Marines discharged for involvement in scandal
CAMP PENDI-ETON. Calif (AP) — Two
Marines have been discharged for their
alleged involvement in a mail order
pornography ring.
An internal investigation identified 10
Marines — nine men and a woman — who
posed for sexually explicit pictures. Camp
Pendleton officials said.
In addition to the two Marines dis
charged and three others who might be.
a sixth Marine was disciplined but remains
in the Corps and a seventh fates similar
punishment, said Camp Pendleton
spokesman Sgt. Marc l.obdell.
An eighth Marine faces a hearing to
determine whether a court-martial is net
essary. A ninth was discharged "for other
misconduct which occurred prior to the
start of the investigation." base officials
said in a statement
The status of any disciplinary action tak
en against the 10th Marine was unavail
able Wednesday. Lobdell said.
Luciano Ceballos-Vasque*. a self
described porn kingpin, said he pho
tographed Marines engaged in homosex
ual acts But Chief Warrant Officer Mike
Hedlund. a base spokesman, said the pho
tos depicted no homosexual activity.
Some of the Marines were identified
from photographs police seized at Cebal
los-Vasquez's house
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Navy finds no grounds
to overturn convictions
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black
seamen charged with mutiny in
a World War II incident were sub
ject to racial prejudice but there
are no grounds to overturn their
courts-martial, the Navy said
Thursday.
The Navy, in a review of the
1*144 incident at Port Chicago.
Calif-, in which 258 black sailors
were court-martialed and 50 sent
to prison, rejected a campaign led
by California lawmakers
i hi Navy .a knowlndgnd that
the seamen were victims of racial
prejudice in being put in segre
gated units and assigned to man
ual labor jobs They also had a
"reasonable basis of fear” in their
refusal to load live ammunition
alter a huge ammunitions dump
explosion at the dock that killed
.120. including 202 him ks
|)ut "the secretary of the Navy
concluded that neither racial prej
udice nor other improper factors
tainted the original investigations
and trials,'' the Navy said.
"Then re making a mistake."
said Percy Robinson, fid, a Los
Angeles photographer who was
one of the seamen " I hey can say
all they want to, but what they
did back then was prejudice "
Robinson said he was ordered
back to work even though he was
injured in the explosion, while
white sailors who were injured
were all excused from returning
to the docks
Four California lawmakers said
in a statement that they found the
Navy review "highly disturbing "
Reps. George Miller. Ronald
Dallums and Pete Stark, and Sen.
Barbara Boxer, all Democrats,
said: "The Navy cannot under
stand that under those condi
tions, the decision to refuse to
resume loading ammunition after
the shock of the accident was not
an act of rebellion but an act of
self-preservation in light of the
danger they faced specifically
because they were black.”
The lawmakers introduced leg
islation in the 1902 defense
spending bill requiring the Navy
to review the case.
The incident followed a July
17. 1‘H-t. explosion that
destroyed two ammunition
ships, leveled much of the town
of Port Chicago and was felt ns
far nwav as Nevada.
The blast at what is now the
Concord Naval Weapons Station
caused the worst militarv loss of
life w'ithin the continental Unit
ed States in World War II
Two weeks Inter, when the
him k enlisted men at the port
vvem ordered bac k to work. 258
refused, contending it was
unsafe Of those. 208 later
returned to their jobs after (wing
threatened with court-martial
They eventually were given
summary courts-martial and dis
ciplined but later were dis
c barged under "honorable con
ditions."
The 50 who < ontinued their
boycott were convicted of
mutiny and sentenced to 15
years at hard labor. They spent
lf> months in a military prison
According to accounts of the
triul in a book by Oakland
writer Robert Allen, the Navy
allowed no testimony about the
causes of the explosion or
unsafe conditions and the court
martial panel took an hour and
10 minutes to find all guilty of
mutiny.
The Navy, in its review', said
leniency had already been
shown to the men. It said all
those convicted in the incident
were given an opportunity to
complete their enlistments and
receive honorable discharges or
discharges under honorable con
ditions.
It said no sailor was denied
retirement benefits solely as a
result of the court-martial con
victions.
The four lawmakers said they
will "continue to search for oth
er means to address this issue in
the belief that the surviving
sailors and their families and the
families of those now deceased
deserve the chance to clear their
name.”
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