Biography
Bobby Bishop was one of the Camp Pendleton 14, a group of Black Marines arrested after a November 13, 1976 confrontation with Marines they believed were attending a Ku Klux Klan meeting on the base. Thirteen of the fourteen were confined in the Camp Pendleton brig while military proceedings moved forward. Contemporary reports document that eight defendants were later released from the brig, but the available sources do not identify an exact individual release date or final disposition for Bobby Bishop.
The February 25 Associated Press account calls the Camp Pendleton defendant Lance Corporal Billy R. Bishop, twenty-three, of Bryan, Texas, and says he was freed Wednesday, February 23, after an appeal to Major Walter F. Flato. The existing record uses Bobby/Bobby R. Bishop; the shared initial, surname and specific fourteen-defendant proceeding support the match, while the source’s given-name variant is retained here without silently replacing his name. Six assault counts and a forthcoming general court-martial are reported. Release pending trial is not a final acquittal; no exact brig-entry day or total days is inferred.
Daily Pilot, February 25, 1977 (local editions), PDF page 5.
