"We Were There to Prove Ourselves" Veteran D estroyerman Lorenz o DuFau Celebrates His Ship and Her People by Peter Stanford
T
hey were like family to me," said rhe co urrlyge nrlem an sirring across rhe aisle from me in rhe rrain, "a nd rhey srill are. We stick togerher, we've been rhrough a lot togerher-and we made some histo iy togerher." The speaker, Lorenzo DuFau , fo rmer Signalman 2nd C lass, US Naval Reserve, was answering my quesrion abour rhe cap he was wearing, which bore rhe legend "USS MASON-DE 529." T he ship's name was fami liar, bur so mehow I couldn 'r place ir. Mr. DuFau courteously remedied my ignoran ce. "We were rhe first black US Navy crew. Before we sailed, people of co lor co uld sail on ly as messmen in the galley. We were rrained to man a destroyer escort in the Barrie of th e Acl ancic in World War II, and we did just chat aboa rd USS Mason." H e went on to explain chat he had just come from a ceremony at the Great Lakes Naval T raining Center in C hicago-where he and ochers of the Mason crew trained for their jobs aflo ar. In the event, they did so well chey we re put up for a special commendation, which however they did nor receive unri l half a century after their service, due to ingrained racial attitudes wh ich die hard in rhe Navy, as in society at large. A book was wrirren about rhe experiences of the men of USS Mason, in which Mary Pac Kelly reco rded Mr. DuFau's reasons for enlisting in a dangerous service: Captain William Blackford, LCDR, USNR, recalled Lorenzo Dufau, "was a captain indeed. " H e trusted his crew and they trusted him. Captain and crew gather on the fantail at the ships commissioning on an icy March morning in 1944. (US Navy photo, NationalArchives)
SEA HISTORY 100, SPRING 2002
I n Boston, in the winter of 1943-4, patriotic black seamen join their brand new ship-which has no heat! (National Archives) Personally, I felr responsible as an American citize n firsr. I had a wife and kid down in New Orleans. I had a 3-A classificarion, so I was not go ing to be drafted. Bue once th e navy anno unced rhey were opening the doors for us-chat they were go ing to give races-I decided co enlisr. ... I had a yo ung so n (he wasn 't two yea rs old at chat rim e) , and I felt ifl could gee into rhe service and do good, ir would be an opening for him and ochers like him. Ir's just inbred in a man co wane his chi ld co be a lirrle berrer off than he. That was one thing. Also at char rime I was hearin g in th e news about what was happening over in Ge rmany with the repression char was going on, the te rrible actions aga in st the Jews . ... And I said, I can kill two birds with one scone, I could take part in trying co stop chis actio n and also open doors here ar home. As Mr. DuFau was explaining rhese things co me, a yo ung student on the train asked him why he would enlist "to defend a racist society." DuFau gave me a look (he knew that I had served in rhe Navy in that era), and sa id : "Youn g man, when yo ur ho me is attacked, yo u go out co defend ir. T hat's the natural thing to do . We have no home bur here in America, and I am proud thar I played my pare in defending rhis count ry." In her book, Ms. Kelly adds a few more of DuFau' s wo rds on chis subj ect: T here were problems, but we just couldn 't fi ght hate with hate. T hat wasn' t our role there, co fight hare. We were there co prove ourselves. Nowadays, yo u see so m any black offi cers. To rhink that we were part of thar beginning ... . It's wonder-
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