OperAtiOn rechriSten
Military & Veterans Affairs Committee Chairs : Robert Barton – Rumberger Kirk & Janae Thomas – Quinteros , Prieto , Wood and Boyer , P . A .
In 2021 , The Defense Authorization Act established the Naming Commission to recommend new names for a host of military bases and some 750 military assets . After all was said and done , Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved the renaming of nine Army bases ( all in the south ). The Department of Defense allotted $ 1 million for this feat even though the estimated price tag comes in somewhere between $ 21-38 million . The remaining funds will be taken from other parts of the U . S . Army ’ s budget and reappropriated for the renaming . Congress has given the Army a deadline to complete this task by the end of the year 2023 . The renaming process entails not only the renaming of the installations themselves , but also all the street signs , all the other signs on the bases that make reference to the installations ’ names and all the technological references ( emails , servers , etc ) to the installations ’ names . As of June 2023 , seven of the nine bases have been renamed . Here are all nine bases :
• Fort Pickett , Virginia , was renamed Fort Barfoot on March 24 for Col . Van T . Barfoot , who received the Medal of Honor for his actions as a tech sergeant with the 45th Infantry Division during World War II in Italy in 1944 .
After all was said and done , Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved the renaming of nine Army bases ( all in the south ).
• Fort Rucker , Alabama , was renamed Fort Novosel on April 10 for Chief Warrant Officer Michael Novosel , who received the Medal of Honor for his work flying a medical evacuation mission in 1969 amid the Vietnam War — his third war as an Army aviator .
• Fort Lee , Virginia , was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams on April 27 for Lt . Gen . Arthur Gregg , the Army ’ s first Black three-star general , and Lt . Col . Charity Adams , a Black woman who commanded a postal battalion during World War II .
• Fort Hood , Texas , was renamed Fort Cavazos on May 9 for infantry Gen . Richard Cavazos , the service ’ s first Latino fourstar general . He received two Distinguished Service Crosses for his leadership under fire — one in Korea , and one in Vietnam .
• Fort Benning , Georgia , was renamed Fort Moore on May 18 for Lt . Gen . Hal Moore and his wife , Julia Compton Moore . Hal Moore received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in the Vietnam War and Julia Moore organized a support network during the Vietnam War that officials adopted and evolved in the modern Army ’ s casualty notification and assistance program .
• Fort Bragg , North Carolina , became Fort Liberty on June 2 .
• Fort Polk , Louisiana , became Fort Johnson on June 13 . The post ’ s namesake , Sgt . William Henry Johnson of the World War I “ Harlem Hellfighters ,” received the Medal of Honor in 2015 for his heroism in the trenches a century before .
• Fort Gordon , Georgia , will become Fort Eisenhower on October 27 , named for the five-star Supreme Allied Commander of Forces in Europe ( World War II ) general and U . S . president Dwight D . Eisenhower .
• Fort A . P . Hill , Virginia , will become Fort Walker ( no date set yet ), named for Civil War surgeon and only woman to receive the Medal of Honor , Mary Edwards Walker .
You have all now been briefed ; govern yourselves accordingly . n
Author : Judge Matthew Smith – 13th Judicial Circuit Court
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