This book is an account of the 2,445 African American men who were killed or wounded or decorated during World War II in the Navy, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine. Because of the nature of the military's racial policies, most of these men served either in the Steward's Branch or in subordinate positions. As a result, the role of these fighting men has largely been ignored.

This book attempts to rectify this oversight, documenting each man lost with groupings primarily by ship and by shore service, as well as separate chapters for those lost at Pearl Harbor and those who died in the explosion at Port Chicago, an incident which accounted for about 20 percent of all deaths among African American seamen during the war.

Information of a more personal nature about each man is often included, highlighted by input from surviving black veterans as well as recollections from several families whose sons, fathers, and brothers were lost in the war. Also featured are several African Americans who were decorated posthumously for acts of bravery and heroism during their service, including Navy Cross winners Dorie Miller, William Pinckney and Leonard Roy Harmon.