U.S. commission recommends renaming nine Army bases to strip Confederate legacy
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Congressionally mandated commission announced on Tuesday its recommendations for changes to the names of nine U.S. Army bases that currently honor the Confederacy and Confederate leaders.
The recommended changes, if implemented, would name bases in honor of Black, Hispanic and female American heroes, including Mary Edwards Walker, the only woman to win the Medal of Honor for her service as a surgeon during the Civil War. They are:
* Fort Benning, Georgia rename Fort Moore after Lieutenant General Hal and Julia Moore.
* Fort Bragg, North Carolina rename Fort Liberty after the value of liberty.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u-s-commission-recommends-renaming-nine-army-bases-to-strip-confederate-legacy/ar-AAXFDel?cvid=2e4db77efb354ba88c3fea5adfb7bd08
Dyedinthewoolliberal
(15,612 posts)I never realized we had bases named after traitors. Wow..............
TomSlick
(11,138 posts)Southern states would often give land to the US for military installations but required they be named for confederates.
"There are 10 major military installations named after Confederate Civil War commanders located in the former states of the Confederacy. These are all Army installations: Fort Rucker (after Col. Edmund W. Rucker, who was given the honorary title of General) in Alabama; Fort Benning (Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning) and Fort Gordon (Maj. Gen. John Brown Gordon) in Georgia; Camp Beauregard (Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant P.G.T. Beauregard) and Fort Polk (Gen. Leonidas Polk) in Louisiana; Fort Bragg (Gen. Braxton Bragg) in North Carolina; Fort Hood (Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood) in Texas; and Fort A.P. Hill (Lt. Gen. Ambrose Powell A.P. Hill), Fort Lee (Gen. Robert E. Lee) and Fort Pickett (Maj. Gen. George Edward Pickett) in Virginia."
(Congressional Research Service, 8/23/21)
paleotn
(18,014 posts)Fort Lee, Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, Fort AP Hill, Fort Polk, Fort Gordon, Fort Pickett... Bizarre when you think about it. Every one of them risked life and limb to tear the Union apart.
COL Mustard
(5,969 posts)In the Canal Zone. Kind of ironic.
Mysterian
(4,602 posts)I disagree with Fort Moore and Fort Liberty. How about Benning becoming Fort Bradley and Bragg becoming Fort Marshall? There are plenty of WWII heroes like Omar Bradley and George Marshall and I'm unaware of major installations named after them.
Hal Moore was an excellent battalion commander but we have generals like Bradley and Marshall who left enduring legacies.
jmowreader
(50,594 posts)General Ridgway had ties to Bragg; he commanded 82nd Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps.
Mysterian
(4,602 posts)Good idea.
Evolve Dammit
(16,817 posts)The Civil War continues...
COL Mustard
(5,969 posts)That dude was a STUD. After the battle for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor, he was so badly injured that the docs thought he was dead, and they were getting ready to zip up the body bag, until he spit on them to show he was alive.
melm00se
(4,998 posts)M/Sgt. (then S/Sgt.) Roy P. Benavidez, United States Army, who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam. On the morning of 2 May 1968, a 12-man Special Forces Reconnaissance Team was inserted by helicopters in a dense jungle area west of Loc Ninh, Vietnam, to gather intelligence information about confirmed large-scale enemy activity. This area was controlled and routinely patrolled by the North Vietnamese Army. After a short period of time on the ground, the team met heavy enemy resistance, and requested emergency extraction. Three helicopters attempted extraction, but were unable to land due to intense enemy small-arms and anti-aircraft fire. Sgt. Benavidez was at the Forward Operating Base in Loc Ninh monitoring the operation by radio when these helicopters returned to off-load wounded crewmembers and to assess aircraft damage. Sgt. Benevidez voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt. Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone, he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing while he jumped from the hovering helicopter, and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small-arms fire to the crippled team. Prior to reaching the team's position he was wounded in his right leg, face, and head. Despite these painful injuries, he took charge, repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of the extraction aircraft and the loading of the wounded and dead team members. He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team's position. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members. As the enemy's fire intensified, he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader. When he reached the leader's body, Sgt. Benevidez was severely wounded by small-arms fire in the abdomen and grenade fragments in his back. At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Although in extremely critical condition due to his multiple wounds, Sgt. Benevidez secured the classified documents and made his way back to the wreckage, where he aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy automatic-weapons and grenade fire, he moved around the perimeter distributing water and ammunition to his weary men, reinstilling in them a will to live and fight. Facing a buildup of enemy opposition with a beleaguered team, Sgt. Benevidez mustered his strength, began calling in tactical air strikes and directed the fire from supporting gunships to suppress the enemy's fire and so permitted another extraction attempt. He was wounded again in his thigh by small-arms fire while administering first aid to a wounded team member just before another extraction helicopter was able to land. His indomitable spirit kept him going as he began to ferry his comrades to the craft. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed from additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary. He then continued under devastating fire to carry the wounded to the helicopter. Upon reaching the aircraft, he spotted and killed two enemy soldiers who were rushing the craft from an angle that prevented the aircraft door-gunner from firing upon them. With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all classified material had been collected or destroyed and to bring in the remaining wounded. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft. Sgt. Benevidez' gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men. His fearless personal leadership, tenacious devotion to duty, and extremely valorous actions in the face of overwhelming odds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect the utmost credit on him and the United States Army.
jmowreader
(50,594 posts)How about Fort Donlon-Benavidez? Captain Roger Donlon was the first Vietnam War MOH recipient and the first special operator to ever receive it.
piddyprints
(14,651 posts)We lived there when I was in grade school. I always wondered why it was named after a traitor.
COL Mustard
(5,969 posts)Her emails!!!
Sorry, stock answer for everything.
IBEWVET
(217 posts)I went to basic at Ft Benning in 1968. Had no idea who it was named for, doubt any of the other recruits knew either. So when asked where I entered the army I will answer Ft Benning. Did not know anything about the trouble about the name till a year ago.
Mysterian
(4,602 posts)Here's a start for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_L._Benning
Hope it helps!
Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)
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lonely bird
(1,700 posts)Polk was an Episcopal bishop, iirc.
Samrob
(4,298 posts)ignoring our history as we accuse the anti CRT folks of being? Face it! There was a Confederacy. They tried to overthrow our government and Republic. A war that killed hundred of thousands of Americans was fought. The anti-union (anti-USA) folks lost the war, having lost thousands of men and women and children. IT FUCKING HAPPENED! We don't want to nor do we want to HONOR the Confederacy. But we sure as hell can't deny it existed nor should we. Forget this stuff about buildings and monuments. We have a real live modern Confederacy to fight now. The battle field is made up of voting booths, courts, honest law enforcement where it exists, homes and churches across the nation, Executive agencies and their armies of decent, loyal Americans, servant leaders, and community leaders. Our enemy are lying media, dishonest men and women lying to each other and to their political constituents, greedy vulture corporations that who fund and who are also our enemy, lying politicians more concerned about their own power and political careers than about the welfare of the nation, billionaires whose wealth was built on marginalizing and stealing from the working masses who continue to use their wealth to buy our government and use it against us, gun nuts in love with their guns and in love with the hate they fester against anyone not like them.
A monument torn down is a monument forgotten along with all that it stood for. Forgetting is the fertilizer of regeneration growth.
Get real people. Stop busying yourselves with the trivial and tackle the germane, the dangerous, the EVIL!!
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,458 posts)Pretty simple really.
Samrob
(4,298 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,458 posts)Hekate
(91,013 posts)
with a gigantic statue celebrating slavery in the town square. It was not a nice feeling it was a constant reminder of what had been done to your personal ancestors, and a constant reminder of what the powers that be thought of your existence.
The monuments were installed long after the Civil War was over by the Daughters of the Confederacy, who wanted to rewrite history themselves to glorify their own ancestors part in a fantasized era of slavery before the War of Northern Aggression.
I hope that helps in your understanding.