About 600 African American troops from the 96th Battalion, US Army Corps of Engineers, were stationed at a base outside of Townsville called Kelso Field.

On 22 May 1942, aiming to kill their commander, Captain Francis Williams of Columbus, Georgia, the black troopers began firing machine guns at the tents of white officers, resulting in an eight-hour siege.

In response to racial taunts and abuse from white officers, African American troops led by "A" and "C" Companies, launched a riot at their camp.

Meanwhile, Dick Kelso, Arthur's brother and a member of the 11th Brigade, participated in efforts to quell the unrest, manning a roadblock armed with live ammunition and Bren Guns.

[2] American journalist Robert Sherrod wrote a report on the mutiny but it was suppressed, as future US president Lyndon B. Johnson, then a young congressman, was visiting Townsville at the time.