WASHINGTON (AP) – Fort Bragg would become Fort Liberty. Fort Gordon would be Fort Eisenhower. And, for the first time, army bases would be called black soldiers and women. An independent commission on Tuesday recommended new names for nine army posts now commemorated by Confederate officers.
The recommendations are the latest step in a broader military effort to address racial injustice, most recently following the May 2020 assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the only base that would not bear a person’s name. Two others would be named after black soldiers and three would include female names. Fort Gordon in Georgia would be better known, commemorating President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who led Allied forces in Europe during World War II.
Other proposed name changes would honor lesser-known heroes, including several who received the Medal of Honor, the highest award in the military. Fort Polk, Louisiana, would be renamed Fort Johnson, after Sgt. William Henry Johnson, winner of the Black Medal of Honor who served in the military during World War I.
Fort Pickett in Virginia, named after the technical sergeant. Van Barfoot, a World War II Medal of Honor winner, and And Fort Rucker in Alabama would be named Fort Novosel, after Chief of Staff Michael Novosel, a recipient of the award. Medal of Honor that served in World War II and Vietnam.
Fort AP Hill in Virginia would be renamed Fort Walker, after Mary Edwards Walker, a doctor who treated Civil War soldiers and later received a Medal of Honor.
Fort Hood, Texas, was renamed Fort Cavazos, in honor of General Richard Cavazos, who served in the Korean War, received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest military award, and became the first four-star Hispanic Army general.
Fort Benning, Georgia, is named after a married couple: Lieutenant General Hal Moore, who served in Vietnam and received the Distinguished Service Cross, and his wife Julia, who promoted the creation of military notifications in person. low.
And Fort Lee, Virginia, would have a hyphenated name — Fort Gregg-Adams — and it’s the only one that would commemorate someone still alive today: Lieutenant General Arthur J. Gregg, known as the logistics leader. Lt. Col. Charity Adams, the other half of the name, led the Army’s first female black unit deployed in World War II.
A final report is due to be submitted to Congress on October 1 and will include the costs of removal and name change. The name change process was set out in a law passed by Congress in late 2020. The Secretary of Defense is expected to implement the commission’s plan by January 1, 2024 at the latest.
The proposal to change the names sparked widespread debate and debate in grassroots communities across the country. Panel members visited the bases, met with local and resident leaders, and relied heavily on their recommendations when choosing final names, said Vice President Ty Seidule.
For years, U.S. military officers had defended the name of the bases with Confederate officers. As recently as 2015, the Army argued that the names did not honor the rebel cause, but were a gesture of reconciliation with the South.
But after Floyd’s assassination and the months of racial unrest that followed, Congress ordered a comprehensive plan to rename military sites and hundreds of other federal assets, such as roads, buildings, monuments, signs and landmarks that honored rebel leaders.
The change in Army thinking was reflected in the testimony in Congress of Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a month after Floyd’s death. He said the current base names could be a reminder to black soldiers that rebel officers fought for an institution that could have enslaved their ancestors.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the country’s first head of the Black Pentagon, has spoken bluntly about his own personal brushstrokes with racism. During his confirmation hearing in the Senate, he said he had served as a lieutenant colonel with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg when three white soldiers, described as skinheads, were arrested in the murder of a black couple walking by a street.
The investigators concluded that the two were targeted because of their race, and a total of 22 soldiers were linked to skinhead and other similar groups or were found to have extremist views.
The current head of the Air Force, General Charles Q. Brown, released an emotional video last June in which he talked about the difficulties he experienced as a young black pilot. Brown, the first chief of the Black Air Force, said he had to prove to white supervisors “that their expectations and perceptions of African Americans were not valid.”
Established in 2020, the Naming Commission first met in March 2021 and began receiving name recommendations from the public in September. In all, the commission received more than 34,000 potential names, which it said included about 3,670 unique ones that could possibly be used. This list was later reduced to about 100 before the nine finals were chosen to be recommended to Congress.
U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., Who learned to fly helicopters at Fort Rucker and also spent time at Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, called the new names a significant step forward.
“All of these bases honored men who wouldn’t want me or other black Americans to serve in uniform, let alone in Congress,” he said. “We cannot ask the current military and women to defend our country while they house and train them and their families in facilities that celebrate those who betrayed our country to enslave others and preserve white supremacy.”
Panel members said Tuesday that decisions were difficult because they had so many heroes to choose from. But in all cases, they said they had a widespread agreement from local communities.
In at least one case, however, panel members said local residents were determined to want a name that was not on the final list: Fort Liberty. During the panel’s final visit to Fort Bragg, the people at the meeting “were very, very inflexible about the name of Fort Liberty,” said Lawrence Romo, a committee member. “We gave a lot of deference to what the Fort Bragg community wanted.”
Seidule said the group wanted names that “inspire soldiers to achieve the highest standards demanded by their nation in peace and war.”
The panel is also considering new names for two Navy ships: the USS Chancellorsville and the USNS Maury. These and the new names of hundreds of streets, buildings and other assets will be in the final report.
A final report is due to be submitted to Congress on October 1 and will include the costs of removal and name change. By law, the Secretary of Defense is expected to implement the commission’s plan by January 1, 2024 at the latest.