USS Mason

FORT MEADE, MD, UNITED STATES

02.05.2018

Video by Willie Kendrick 

Navy Production Division - Defense Media Activity

Proud to serve and eager fight, the Evarts-class Destroyer Escort, DE-529 protected merchant ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean during WWII. The black enlisted crew of the USS Mason was permitted to train in ratings other than cooks and stewards in a segregated United States Navy. While supporting Convoy NY-119, bound for England, USS Mason suffered critical structural damage during a severe North Atlantic storm. Communications were down when the ship’s radio antenna was damage from the high winds, and the deck had split from the strain of high seas and crushing waves. The Mason had already escorted the most vulnerable ships of the convoy to safety, but instead of pulling into port for repairs she returned to the sea. As the storm raged on, the crew self-repaired the ship while underway and rescued other ships in the convoy. Convoy Commander, Commander Alfred Lind, who called the ship “the plucky Mason,” recommended the crew for a letter of commendation. The Men of USS Mason never received that letter of commendation. After the war, the ship was decommissioned, struck from the Naval Vessel Register, and sold for scrapping.

More than fifty years later, the United States Navy awarded the long-overdue letter of commendation to the surviving crewmembers of DE-529 for their meritorious service and steadfast devotion to duty. In 1998, the Secretary of the Navy, John H. Dalton named the Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer DDG-87 the USS MASON in order to mark the contributions of Sailors of DE-529. Sailors who were “Proud” to serve their country despite the racial barriers they had to overcome.

• Date Taken: 02.05.2018
• Date Posted: 02.12.2018 14:11
• Category: B-Roll
• Video ID: 584330
• VIRIN: 180205-O-MO260-805
• Filename: DOD_105311603
• Length: 00:01:22
• Location: FORT MEADE, MD, US