When I wrote B-1’s history, The Forgotten First (R.A. Fountain, 2013), I believed that it was the least known of the Black Navy bands of World War II.

But as it turns out, B-1 is has become the most thoroughly documented of those bands. I maintain a webpage for B-1, firstblacknavyband.org, and one that catalogs as many of the others as I’ve been able to document.

I was made an honorary member of B-1 in 2006.