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[By Reuben Keith Green]<\/em><\/p>\n The hidden story of the U.S. Navy\u2019s first Black commissioned officer spans five decades, three continents, two world wars, two wives from different countries, and one hell of a journey for an Indiana farm boy. For mutual convenience, both he and the United States Navy pretended that he wasn\u2019t Black. This story had almost been erased from history until the determined efforts of one of his extended relatives, Jeff Giltz of Hobart, Indiana, brought it to light.1<\/em><\/p>\n From before World War I until after World War II, leaders in the U. S. government and Navy would make decisions affecting the composition of enlisted ranks for more than a century and that still echo in officer demographics today. Memories of maelstroms past reverberate in today\u2019s discussions regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), affirmative action in the military academies, meritocracy over so-called \u201cDEI Hires,\u201d who is and is not Black, and in renaming \u2013\u00a0or not\u00a0\u2013 bases and ships that honor relics of America\u2019s discriminatory and exclusionary past.<\/p>\n Before Doris \u201cDorie\u201d Miller received the Navy Cross for his actions on December 7th, 1941, and long before the Navy commissioned the Golden Thirteen in 1945, Lieutenant (junior grade) William Lloyd Garrison Payne was awarded the Navy Cross for the hazardous duty of commanding the submarine chaser USS\u00a0SC-83<\/em>\u00a0in 1918. While his Navy Cross citation is sparse, the hazards of hunting submarines from a 110-foot wooden ship were considerable. His personal and professional history, still emerging though it may be, reveals much about the nation and Navy he served and deserves to be revealed in full. Understanding the racial and political climate during which he received his commission is crucial to understanding the importance of his place in Navy history.Quietly Breaking Barriers<\/p>\n William Lloyd Garrison Payne was born on Christmas day in 1881 to a White Indiana woman and a Black man, and completed forty years of military service by 1940 \u2013 before volunteering for more service in World War II. Garrison Payne\u2019s virtual anonymity, despite his groundbreaking status as the first Black naval officer and a Navy Cross recipient, stemmed from pervasive racial discrimination, manifested in political and public opposition (notably by white supremacist politicians like James K. Varner and John C. Stennis), and internal resistance within the Navy. His long anonymity exemplifies a failure to learn from the past.2<\/em><\/p>\n Fig. 02. Ensign Payne (seated), in command of USS SC-83. (Photo credit:\u00a0subchasers.org.)<\/em><\/p>\n Garrison Payne, or W.G. Payne, served in or commanded several vessels and had multiple shore assignments during his five-decade career. His officer assignments include commanding the aforementioned\u00a0USS\u00a0SC-83<\/em>\u00a0and serving aboard the minesweeper\u00a0USS\u00a0Teal <\/em>(AD-23),\u00a0the collier USS\u00a0Neptune <\/em>(AC-8),\u00a0submarine chasers\u00a0Eagle 19\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Eagle 31,<\/em> which he may have also commanded, and troop ship USS\u00a0Zeppelin<\/em>.\u00a0He had a lengthy record as a Chief Boatswain\u2019s Mate (Chief Bos\u2019n).<\/p>\n Fig. 03: 1917 North Carolina Service Card, thirty-three year-old Chief Boatswain\u2019s Mate Garrison Payne was discharged from the Navy and immediately \u201cAppointed Officer\u201d (Commissioned) on 15 December 1917 while assigned to the USS Neptune (AC-8) at Naval Base, Plymouth, England. (Credit: Public record in the public domain.)<\/em><\/p>\n After his commissioning in Plymouth, he presumably stayed in England and later took command of the USS\u00a0SC-83<\/em>\u00a0after she\u00a0transited from New London, Connecticut to Plymouth, England in May 1918.<\/p>\n Garrison Payne took Rosa Manning, a widow with a young daughter, as his first wife in 1916. The 1910 North Carolina Census records indicate that she was the daughter of Sami and Annie Hall, both listed as Black in the census records. Later census records list Rosa Payne as White, and using her mother\u2019s maiden name (Manning), as she did on their 1916 marriage license. His race was also indicated as White on the license, and his parents listed as Jackson Payne and Ruth Myers (Payne), his maternal grandparents.<\/p>\n Fig. 04: Garrison Payne and an unidentified woman, possibly his second wife Mary Margaret Payne, presumably taken in the later 1920s, location unknown. Courtesy of Jeff Giltz.<\/em><\/p>\n In the photo above, Payne, wearing the rank of lieutenant, stands beside an unidentified Black woman, who may be his wife. He brought back Mary Margaret Duffy from duty in Plymouth, England on the USS Zeppelin<\/em>, a troop transport, in 1919, listing her on ship documents as his wife. He used various first names and initials to apparently help obscure his identity.<\/p>\n Jeff Giltz of Hobart, Indiana is the great grandson of Gertrude \u201cGertie\u201d Giltz, Garrison\u2019s half-sister by the same mother, Mary Alice Payne. She was unmarried at the time of his birth in 1881. Her father, Jack Payne was the son of a Robert Henley Payne, who traveled first from Virginia to Kentucky, and then settled in Indiana, may have been mixed race. During the U.S. Census, census takers wrote down the race of household occupants as described by the head of the household. Many light-skinned Blacks thereby entered into White society by \u201cturning White\u201d during a census year. It is unknown when Garrison made his \u201ctransition\u201d from Black or \u201cMulatto\u201d to White.<\/p>\n None of Garrison\u2019s half-siblings, who were born to his mother after she married Lemuel Ball, share his dark complexion. When she married, Garrison was sent to live nearby with his uncle, William C. Payne, whose wife was of mixed race. In the 1900 Census, Garrison is listed as a servant in his uncle\u2019s household, not his nephew.<\/p>\n Taken together \u2013 Garrison Payne\u2019s dark skin, the fact that the identity of his father was never publicly revealed and that he was born out of wedlock with no birth certificate issued, that he was named for a famous White Boston abolitionist and newspaper publisher,3<\/em>\u00a0that his White mother gave him her last name instead of his father\u2019s, that he was sent away after his mother married, and the oral history of his family \u2013 all point to the likelihood that Garrison Payne was Black.<\/p>\n In the turn of the century Navy, individuals were sometimes identified as \u201cdark\u201d or \u201cdark complexion\u201d with no racial category assigned. Payne self-identified as White on both of his known marriage licenses. According to Jeff Giltz, there are many references to Garrison Payne in online genealogy, military records and newspaper sites, but none appear on the Navy Historical and Heritage Command (NHHC) website. His military service likely began in 1900.<\/p>\n Rolling Back Racial Progress during Modernization<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In his 1978 book\u00a0Manning the Navy: The Development of a Modern Naval Enlisted Force, 1898-1940<\/em>,\u00a0former U.S. Naval Academy Associate Professor Frederick S. Harrod discusses several of the policies enacted during that period that helped shaped today\u2019s Navy.4<\/em>\u00a0He describes how the famously progressive Secretary of the Navy (1913-1919) Josephus Daniels, otherwise notorious for banning alcohol from ships, brought Jim Crow policies to a previously partially integrated Navy (enlisted ranks only) and banned the first term enlistment of Negro personnel in 1919, a ban that would last until 1933. No official announcement of the unofficial ban was made, but Prof. Harrod asserts that it was instituted by an internal Navy Memorandum from Commander Randall Jacobs, who later issued the Guide to Command of Negro Personnel, NAVPERS-15092, in 1945. President Woodrow Wilson and Daniels were both staunch segregationists and White supremacists. The Navy became more rather than less racially restrictive during the Progressive Era because of the lasting effects of both Secretary Daniels and President Wilson.<\/p>\n The number of Negro personnel dropped from a high of 5,668 in June of 1919 \u2013 2.26% of the total enlisted force \u2013 to 411 in June of 1933, a total of 0.55% of the total force of 81,120 enlisted men. Most of the Black sailors were in the Stewards Branch, and most were low ranking with no authority over White sailors, despite their many years of service and experience. Those very few \u201cold salts\u201d outside that branch, like Payne, were difficult to assign, as the Navy did not want them supervising White sailors, despite their expertise and seniority.<\/p>\n Following his temporary promotion to the commissioned officer ranks \u2013 rising as far as\u00a0lieutenant on 01 July 1919\u00a0\u2013 Garrison Payne was eventually reverted to Chief Bos\u2019n, until he was given an honorific, or \u201ctombstone\u201d, promotion to the permanent grade of lieutenant in June of 1940, just before his retirement. Payne died on 14 October 1952 in a Naval Hospital in San Diego California, and was interred in nearby Fort Rosacrans National Cemetery on 20 October 1952,\u00a0in Section P, Plot P 0 2765\u00a0\u2013 not in the Officer\u2019s Sections A or B, despite being identified as a lieutenant on his headstone. Garrison Payne\u2019s hometown newspaper\u2019s death notice indicates that he was the grandson of Jack Payne, with no mention of his parents. A handwritten notation on his Internment Control Form indicates that he enlisted on 31 March 1943, making him a veteran of both world wars, as also reflected on his headstone. His service in World War II \u2013 as a volunteer 62-year-old retiree \u2013 deserves further investigation.<\/p>\n Fig. 05: Garrison Payne\u2019s final resting place, in Section P, Plot P 0 2765 of Fort Rosacrans National Cemetery. Courtesy of U.S. Department of Veteran\u2019s Affairs,\u00a0Veteran\u2019s Legacy Memorial.<\/em><\/p>\n The Navy reluctantly commissioned the Golden Thirteen in 1945 only because of political pressure from the White House and from civil rights organizations like the NAACP, led by Walter F. White, the light-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed Atlanta Georgia native who embraced his Black heritage. Unlike Walter White, though, Garrison Payne likely hid his mixed-race heritage to protect his life, his family, and his career. When he married Mary Margaret Duffy in 1937, at the age of 54, he travelled more than 170 miles from San Diego, California to Yuma, Arizona to do so. Why? His new wife, Mary Margaret Duffy, was 37, and an immigrant from Ireland. He had previously listed her as his wife when he transported her to America in 1919. Are there records of this marriage overseas? Would that interracial marriage have been recognized, given that interracial marriage would remain illegal in both states for years to come? On their marriage certificate, as with Payne\u2019s first marriage certificate, both spouses are listed as White.<\/p>\n The Navy\u2019s Circular Letter 48-46, dated 27 February 1946, officially lifted \u201call restrictions governing the types of assignments for which Negro naval personnel are eligible.\u201d\u00a0Despite that edict, and President Truman\u2019s Executive Order desegregating the armed forces in 1948, it would be decades before the Navy\u2019s officer ranks would include more than fifty Blacks.<\/p>\n The stories of several early Black chief petty officers are missing from the Navy\u2019s Historical and Heritage Command\u2019s website, though it does include the story of a contemporary of Payne\u2019s, Chief Boatswain\u2019s Mate John Henry \u201cDick\u201d Turpin, a Black man. That Payne, a commissioned officer, is absent and unrecognized can be attributed to at least five possible reasons.<\/p>\n The first is that the Navy didn\u2019t know of his existence, significance, or accomplishments. Table 5 in Professor Harrods\u2019s book is titled \u201cThe Color of the Enlisted Forces, 1906 \u2013 1940,\u201d\u00a0and is compiled from the Annual Reports of the Chief of Navigation for those years, with eleven different racial categories, including \u201cother.\u201d Where Garrison Payne fell in those figures during his enlisted service is uncertain, but he was present in the Navy for each of those year\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n The second is that Payne had no direct survivors to tell his story, and no one may have asked him to tell it. He and his first wife Rosa likely divorced sometime after the death of their only child. It is unknown if his Irish-born wife Mary Margaret produced any children by Garrison.<\/p>\n The third reason could be that the Navy may have kept his story quiet for his own protection, and that of the Woodrow Wilson administration and the Indiana political leadership. Garrison Payne was commissioned by the same President Woodrow Wilson who screened the movie\u00a0Birth of a Nation<\/em>\u00a0at the White House in 1915, re-segregated the federal government offices in Washington DC, refused to publicly condemn the racial violence and lynching during the \u201cRed Summer\u201d of 1919, and whose Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, was one of the masterminds behind the 1898 Wilmington Insurrection, which violently overthrew an elected integrated government in Wilmington, North Carolina. Acknowledging Payne as a decorated and successful Black naval officer would have been an embarrassment to Wilson, Daniels, and undercut their political and racist agendas.<\/p>\n Black veterans were specifically targeted after both world wars, by both civilians and military personnel, to reassert White supremacy. Payne was from Indiana, where the Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915\u00a0and became a very powerful organization in the 1920s. Such organizations may have sought out and harassed Payne and his family, had they known that this Black Indiana farm boy, born to a White mother, had not only received a commission in the U.S. Navy but had commanded White men in combat.<\/p>\n The fourth reason is that the Navy may have wanted to hide his racial identity. His record of accomplishment as a Navy Cross recipient and ship\u2019s C.O. would have undermined the widespread belief that Black men could not perform successfully as leaders, much less decorated military officers. He was not commissioned as part of some social experiment or social engineering, but because the Navy needed experienced, reliable men to man a rapidly-expanding fleet and train inexperienced crews. Garrison Payne did just that, during years of dangerous duty at sea.<\/p>\n The fifth reason may be that Payne recognized the benefits of passing for White to his life and career, which may have compelled him to do so. He was raised in a largely white society, by white-appearing relatives. Had he not successfully \u201cpassed,\u201d he likely would not have been commissioned.<\/p>\n Regardless of the reasons in the past, it is now time to herald the brave naval service of Garrison Payne. The Navy Historical and Heritage Command, the Smithsonian Institution, the Indiana Historical Society, the Hampton Roads Navy Museum, and others should work together to bring his amazing story out of the shadows.<\/p>\n Why Garrison Payne\u2019s Story Matters<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n For years, many Black naval officers have searched in vain for stories of their heroic forebearers. Actions taken by politicians regarding nominations to military academies for much of the 20th\u00a0century helped ensure that Black military officers remained a rarity, particularly those hailing from Southern states.5<\/em>\u00a0The life story of Lieutenant Garrison Payne needs to be thoroughly documented and publicized because representation matters.<\/p>\n On a personal note, knowing of his story while I was serving as one of the few Black officers in the Navy would have inspired me immensely. Garrison Payne served as likely the\u00a0only\u00a0Black officer in the Navy for his\u00a0entire career. He showed what was possible. Heralding his trailblazing career can only positively impact the discussions about the future composition of the U.S. Navy\u2019s officer corps as it inspires generations of sailors. Historians and researchers should continue the work of archival research to gain a fuller understanding of his story and significance. My hope is that veteran\u2019s organizations and national institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution begin the effort to flesh out the story of Lieutenant Garrison Payne.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cimsec.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/02_Childers-SC-83-Crew-02.jpg?ssl=1\")
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