I said "That's too f*cking bad, because you and I are going to have at it." At that point, the other five guys walked out from behind the barracks and surrounded me.
I had no idea what to do (I have only had a few real fistfights in my entire life) so I took up kind of a karate stance and began circling slowly. (I don't know any karate, I simply didn't have any idea how to proceed) So, they had me circled, and I am guessing it might have been for around five to ten seconds, and I heard one of them say "...he knows karate..." then they rushed me and down I went.
They kicked and punched me for what seemed like a really long time, but I would think it must have been only thirty seconds, and I was curled up in a ball. I suspect they were landing just as many kicks on each others legs and feet as they were on me, and I remember smelling that they must have been drinking. They were trying like hell to kick me square in the nuts and the face, but I was bound and determined not to take a square kick to the nuts or the face, so I was doing a lot of rolling around. I remember taking a few kicks to the sides of my head, and one landed pretty hard on my ear.
This whole time, they weren't saying anything, just grunting and breathing. This all took place right between two barracks full of people, and I was yelling like hell, but nobody came out. At some point, there was a very slight pause, and I leaped to my feet and darted between them, running up the steps to the barracks door. I didn't dare try to take enough time to open the door, because they were right behind me and I knew if I did, they would have me again.
There was a mop in a bucket, and I grabbed the thing and began swinging the handle at them pretty wildly...at that point, they backed away around the edge of the barracks and disappeared. I was appalled that nobody helped, it was around 2300 on a weeknight.
I went directly over to the hangar across the street where my boss was working the night shift. He was a black guy, and his name was Woods.
I told him what happened, and he just looked at me and said "You want to go find them and kick their asses?" I said no.
The truth is...I could not have identified a single one of them. Even the guy who I faced off against initially, I could not have identified him. Very strange. And I never reported it...for some reason, it didn't even occur to me to do so.
For months afterwards, when I saw a black guy walk by, I would look at him pretty hard, trying to see if I could recognize him as one of my assailants. I think it is possible I could have developed somewhat of a tainted attitude towards blacks at that point, but...I worked with some great black guys, Petty Officer Woods first and foremost. Those guys let me know in no uncertain terms where they stood on the subject, and I never reached a point where I developed any kind of animosity. Thank God.