The Army Should Rid Itself Of Symbols Of Treason

[TopHatter]

How about 'flat Earth girl' for Secretary of Education?

Hey, this could even be the start of a new game hear on WAB. Instead of fantasy football we can play fantasy Trump Cabinet by selecting the 'cream of the crop' from all the new MAGA politicians that are springing up based on their public pronouncements and/or actions as reported in the news?

Count me in!

[TopHatter]

Fort Bragg drops Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of US Army base rebranding


The new Fort Liberty sign is displayed outside the base on Friday, June 2, 2023 in Fort Liberty, N.C.

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. (AP) — Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans said was a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to current and prospective Black service members.

The change was part of a broad Department of Defense initiative, motivated by the 2020 George Floyd protests, to rename military installations that had been named after confederate soldiers.

The Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted nationwide after Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, coupled with ongoing efforts to remove Confederate monuments, turned the spotlight on the Army installations. A naming commission created by Congress visited the bases and met with members of the surrounding communities for input.

“We were given a mission, we accomplished that mission and we made ourselves better,” Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, told reporters after the ceremony that made the name change official.

While other bases are being renamed for Black soldiers, U.S. presidents and trailblazing women, the North Carolina military installation is the only one not renamed after a person. Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule said at a commission meeting last year that the new name was chosen because “liberty remains the greatest American value.”

“Fayetteville in 1775 signed one of the first accords declaring our willingness to fight for liberty and freedom from Great Britain,” said Donahue, referring to the city adjacent to the base. “Liberty has always been ingrained in this area.”

The cost to rename Fort Bragg — one of the largest military installations in the world by population — will total about $6.37 million, according to a commission report.

Giving an updated figure Friday, Col. John Wilcox said the cost of the name change was about $8 million right now. Most front-facing signage has been changed but the process is ongoing.

“The name changes, the mission does not change,” base spokesperson Cheryle Rivas said Friday morning before the ceremony.

Fort Polk in Louisiana will be the next installation to change its name June 13 to Fort Johnson, in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson.

The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall.

Several military bases were named after Confederate soldiers during World War I and World War II as part of a “demonstration of reconciliation” with white southerners amid a broader effort to rally the nation to fight as one, said Nina Silber, a historian at Boston University.

“It was kind of a gesture of, ‘Yes, we acknowledge your patriotism,’ which is kind of absurd to acknowledge the patriotism of people who rebelled against a country,” she said.

The original naming process involved members of local communities, although Black residents were left out of the conversations. Bases were named after soldiers born or raised nearby, no matter how effectively they performed their duties. Bragg is widely regarded among historians as a poor leader who did not have the respect of his troops, Silber said.

For Isiah James, senior policy officer at the Black Veterans Project, the base renamings are a “long overdue” change he hopes will lead to more substantial improvements for Black service members.

“America should not have vestiges of slavery and secessionism and celebrate them,” he said. “We should not laud them and hold them up and venerate them to where every time a Black soldier goes onto the base, they get the message that this base Bragg is named after someone who wanted to keep you as human property.”

The secretary of defense is required by law to implement the naming commission’s proposed changes by Jan. 1, 2024.
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[Albany Rifles]

5 forts and one ship so far.

[TopHatter]

Forts Cavazos, Barfoot and Liberty — new names for army bases honor new heroes and lasting values, instead of Confederates who lost a war


Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg attends a ceremony on April 27, 2023, in which a military base was renamed in his honor.

One by one, the names of Confederate generals are being removed from U.S. military bases.

On April 27, 2023, Fort Lee, a military base in Virginia named for a Confederate general, was renamed for two African American officers: Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, the U.S. Army’s first Black three-star general, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams, who oversaw mail delivery to soldiers in Europe during World War II.

On May 9, Fort Hood in Texas, originally named for a Confederate general who wrote that it would be better to “die a thousand deaths” than free the South’s slaves, was renamed for Gen. Richard Cavazos, who earned more than a dozen medals for valor in Vietnam and Korea and became the first Hispanic American promoted to general.

On May 11, Georgia’s Fort Benning, named for a Confederate general who said he would rather suffer “pestilence and famine” than give up slavery, became the only base named for a married couple: Lt. Gen. Harold Moore, a Vietnam War hero, and his wife, Julia, an advocate for military families.

And on June 2, Fort Bragg, a base in North Carolina named after a slave-owning Southerner considered one of the worst Confederate generals because of his performance on the battlefield, was renamed Fort Liberty – highlighting the value that the fort’s commander said defines what “the people, the families, the civilians, the veterans of this area have done.”


Fort Liberty is the new name for a military base in North Carolina formerly named after a Confederate general.

By the end of the year, the U.S. Department of Defense will have removed Confederate names from those and five other Army bases and replaced them with names that exemplify modern-day role models and values.

When the idea of purging such names from the U.S. military gathered steam in 2020, it drew fierce opposition from many conservative politicians, including then-President Donald Trump, who called the Confederate-themed bases “part of a Great American Heritage.”

“Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations,” Trump tweeted before he vetoed legislation mandating the name changes.

Opposition has died down
But after Congress overrode the veto, a federal commission studied the issue for more than a year by holding hearings, inviting public input and sifting through nearly 3,700 names suggested for the nine bases, all in the South.

Surprisingly, complaints about shedding the Confederate names have died down.

Politicians like Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and John Cornyn of Texas had initially equated changing the names with erasing history.

Online, reaction to the redesignation ceremonies has been overwhelmingly celebratory.

On Reddit discussion boards, for example, people hailed the new names as a victory not just for social justice but for logical thinking, as many wondered how U.S. Army bases got named for Confederate leaders in the first place.

“Names have power and meaning,” one Redditor posted. “Naming the home of the Infantry after a treasonous f—– who killed American Infantrymen to protect slavery makes my blood boil.”

Base names rooted in ‘lost cause’ ideology
Four of the bases had been named for Confederate leaders at the start of World War I, and the others at the start of World War II. In those instances, military officials deferred to local white politicians and groups such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The resulting names reflected the South’s Jim Crow policies, which sought to reestablish a society based on white supremacy, and the “lost cause” myth, which claimed that slaves were happy, the North was the aggressor in the Civil War, and the Confederacy’s rebellion was an honorable struggle for the Southern way of life, according to the Naming Commission’s final report.

Changing of the guard
Fort Pickett, named for the Confederate general who led the ill-fated charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, was the first base to be redesignated.

On March 24, that facility in Virginia was renamed for Col. Van Barfoot, who was awarded the Medal of Honor – the military’s highest award – for gallantry in World War II.

Barfoot had Native American ancestry, and he also served in Korea and Vietnam.

On April 10, Fort Rucker, the “Home of Army Aviation” in Alabama, was renamed for Michael J. Novosel Sr., a helicopter pilot who rescued more than 5,500 wounded personnel, including his son, during the Vietnam War.

The fort originally honored Col. Edmund Rucker, who served in the Confederate Army under Nathan Bedford Forrest, a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.


World War I hero Sgt. Henry Johnson of the 369th Colored Infantry will have his name and memory enshrined on a U.S. military base.

On June 13, Fort Polk, a base in Louisiana named after a slave owner and Episcopal bishop, will be renamed for Sgt. William Henry Johnson, who single-handedly held off 20 German soldiers during World War I.

Because of racial segregation in the U.S. military, Johnson’s unit, the 369th Colored Infantry, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, fought under the French Army. He wasn’t awarded the Medal of Honor until 2015 – more than 85 years after his death.

And on Oct. 27, Fort Gordon, a base in Georgia named for a Confederate general who later worked to undermine Reconstruction and reputedly headed the KKK in his state, is scheduled to be renamed for Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied forces during World War II and served as U.S. president from 1953 to 1961.


Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was an Army surgeon who saved lives in the Civil War.

No date has been set for when Fort A.P. Hill will be renamed for Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the Army’s first female surgeon, who saved the lives of both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and received the Medal of Honor.

No arguments for keeping Confederate names

The renamings so far have come off without controversy – and with no one seriously defending why the bases should continue honoring Confederates.

As Trevor Noah said on “The Daily Show,” “Imagine being a Black soldier training at a base that is named after somebody who didn’t even think of you as a human being.”

Celebrities popular with conservatives have praised the base redesignations, too.

For example, Mel Gibson applauded renaming Fort Benning for Col. Moore, whose memoir was the basis for “We Were Soldiers,” a 2002 film starring Gibson.

Several years ago, Troy Mosley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, formed an organization called Citizens Against Intolerance to advocate for renaming the bases. He attended the ceremony heralding Fort Gregg-Adams – the first U.S. military base named after an African American.

“These new names reflect the diversity of those who have served and sacrificed for our country,” Mosley said.

According to the Defense Department, more than 17% of active-duty members of the Army are African American, more than 17% are of Hispanic heritage, and other racial minorities make up another 10%. Women represent more than 17% of Army personnel.

Dropping the Confederate names will pay off in terms of military morale and recruitment, Mosley said.

“It not only makes the armed services more attractive to individuals who may not have a family tradition of service, but it also makes our soldiers and veterans proud to see our values demonstrably reflected in our institutions,” he said.
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[TopHatter]

DeSantis wants Confederate general’s name restored to army base

Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to restore the name of a U.S. Army base in North Carolina to that of a Confederate general, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

At a North Carolina GOP convention on Friday, DeSantis said that if elected president, he would change the name of the newly christened Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg.

“It’s an iconic name and an iconic base, and we’re not going to let political correctness run amok in North Carolina,” DeSantis told the cheering GOP crowd.

Fort Bragg, named after Confederate general Braxton Bragg, was one of nine Army installations named after Confederates that are undergoing the process of a name change as part of a bipartisan defense appropriations bill in 2020.

The renamed bases include Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia, Fort Benning in Georgia, and Fort Hood in Texas.

The bases are being renamed after distinguished service members from history, including African American Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg; Lt. Col. Charity Adams, who led a unit of Black women officers in World War II; Lt. Gen. Hal Walker, awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in Vietnam; and Medal of Honor recipient Van Barfoot.

Fort Liberty was chosen by the naming commission because “liberty remains the greatest American value,” according to the Associated Press.

DeSantis was not the only GOP presidential candidate to call for restoring the Fort Bragg name. Former Vice President Mike Pence also called for renaming Fort Liberty at the same North Carolina event, according to NBC News.

Braxton Bragg was considered one of the least successful Confederate generals, leading the rebel army to a major defeat at Chattanooga in 1863. A 2016 book by Earl Hess was titled, “Braxton Bragg: The Most Hated Man of the Confederacy.”

Fort Bragg was named after him in 1918, one of multiple army bases in the South named after Confederate generals during the Jim Crow era.

DeSantis signed the Stop WOKE Act, which limits how schools address race and gender issues, last year. This year, the state rejected an AP Black History course for alleged inclusion of “critical race theory” and recently postponed an African American history institute for public school teachers a week before its start.

A bill to prevent Florida cities from removing Confederate monuments died in committee during this year’s session, according to the Florida Times-Union, but its Republican sponsor pledged to file it again in 2024.

The NAACP issued a formal travel advisory last month, claiming Florida “is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”

DeSantis called the travel advisory “a total farce” in his presidential announcement on Twitter last month.
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No surprise they're so enamored with a loser like Bragg....

[Albany Rifles]

Braxton Bragg won more battles for the US than for the CS.

[TopHatter]

Braxton Bragg won more battles for the US than for the CS.

Which makes it all the more baffling that DeSantis change the name back....

[TopHatter]

Fort Polk to be renamed Fort Johnson to honor World War I hero

The US Army on Tuesday will officially rename Louisiana’s Fort Polk military base, the latest US military installation to be redesignated as part of an effort to strip Confederate leaders of the honor.

The base will be retitled Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Johnson in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a Black US soldier during World War I who fought off about two dozen Germans alone, killing at least four. It was previously named after Confederate commander Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk.

“Sgt. Henry Johnson embodied the warrior spirit, and we are deeply honored to bear his name at the Home of Heroes,” said Brig. Gen. David Gardner, the commanding general of the base, according to excerpts from his prepared remarks shared with CNN.

“Sgt. Johnson’s acts of self-less service during World War I will inspire those at our installation, where we have trained and deployed America’s men and women to fight and win our nation’s wars for over 80 years,” he added.

Johnson, who was awarded a Purple Heart and Medal of Freedom posthumously, enlisted two months after the US became officially involved in World War I and began his military career in a segregated New York regiment based in Harlem, the Army said in a statement last month.

During his deployment to France, where he was assigned to a French infantry unit, Johnson fought off a German raid with the butt of his rifle that ran out of rounds, as well as “grenades, his fists and a bolo knife to kill four German soldiers” and save a fellow American soldier, according to the Army. He was severely injured and suffered 21 wounds, and was unable to return to his job as a porter after the war.

Johnson was outspoken about the racism experienced by Black soldiers, for which the Army punished him by canceling the speaking engagements that he was assigned after his heroic actions. He died in 1929 of myocarditis following a tuberculosis diagnosis.

“As a Black American whose bravery wasn’t acknowledged at the time, Sgt. Johnson personified the Army values and was the epitome of strength,” said Brig. Gen. Isabel Rivera Smith, the director of joint staff for New York National Guard, in a statement.

The branch-wide push to remove the names of Confederate leaders from military bases came amid increased focus on racial inequalities following George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last year approved a proposal by a congressional commission to rename nine bases in honor of several people of color who made significant contributions with their service.

Several bases have been redesignated recently, including Fort Hood in Texas, which was renamed Fort Cavazos last month in honor of Gen. Richard Edward Cavazos, the first Hispanic person to wear four stars on his uniform. Earlier this month, North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, one of the world’s largest military installations, was renamed Fort Liberty.
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One more down....

[Albany Rifles]

Which makes it all the more baffling that DeSantis change the name back....

Pandering to his racist base.

[Albany Rifles]

Fort Polk to be renamed Fort Johnson to honor World War I hero

The 369th Infantry Regiment...The Harlem Hellfighters! Hell of a unit. Shunned by Pershing the French took the 369th and another Black regiment, the 370th Infantry gladly. Many of the officers were from the First Families of New York...Hamilton Fish III especially well heeled.

[Gun Grape]

I don't know if the USAF has any bases that need to be renamed, But it would be nice to have something/some place named after this guy. Same deal with the 369th Regt, Not allowed to fly as an American

https://www.historynet.com/eugene-bu...ghter-pilot/?f

[Albany Rifles]

Love the idea Gunny!

[TopHatter]

Fort AP Hill is now Fort Walker, in honor of a Union surgeon
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Walker is the only woman to be awarded the Medal of Honor.



Dr. Mary Elizabeth Walker had been practicing medicine for years when she volunteered to be a U.S. Army surgeon in the American Civil War. She was originally rejected but eventually became the Army’s first female surgeon. She treated soldiers near the front lines, even getting captured as a prisoner of war. She was also the first and so far only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.

Now a U.S. Army training post in Virginia has been renamed in her honor.

The U.S. Army base was officially designated Fort Walker on Aug. 25, ahead of Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 26 and as part of the military’s effort to rename spaces honoring Confederate leaders. Maj. Gen. Trevor J. Brendenkamp, the commanding general of Joint Task Force-National Capital Region and U.S. Army Military District of Washington, led the renaming ceremony. The base, which covers approximately 76,000 acres near Bowling Green, Virginia, was originally named for Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. Hill died in April 1865, in a devastating Confederate defeat. The Army post, set up in 1941, contains various training grounds, including a live-fire training space.

For her services in the American Civil War, Walker was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Andrew Johnson. That was later rescinded in 1916, following a government review of eligibility for military honors. It was reinstated by President Jimmy Carter. Her Medal of Honor citation reads, in part:

“Whereas it appears from official reports that Dr. Mary E. Walker, a graduate of medicine, ‘has rendered valuable service to the Government, and her efforts have been earnest and untiring in a variety of ways,’ and that she was assigned to duty and served as an assistant surgeon in charge of female prisoners at Louisville, Kentucky, upon the recommendation of Major Generals Sherman and Thomas, and faithfully served as contract surgeon in the service of the United States, and has devoted herself with much patriotic zeal to the sick and wounded soldiers, both in the field and hospitals, to the detriment of her own health, and has also endured hardships as a prisoner of war four months in a Southern prison while acting as contract surgeon; and Whereas by reason of her not being a commissioned officer in the military service, a brevet or honorary rank cannot, under existing laws, be conferred upon her; and Whereas in the opinion of the President an honorable recognition of her services and sufferings should be made: It is ordered, That a testimonial thereof shall be hereby made and given to the said Dr. Mary E. Walker, and that the usual medal of honor for meritorious services be given her.”

An abolitionist and a suffragette as well, Walker pushed for equal rights throughout her life. She died in 1919.

Fort Walker is now the eighth base to be renamed as part of the ongoing effort to remove honors to the Confederacy within the military. Other redesignations include Fort Cavazos (previously Fort Hood), Fort Gregg-Adams (previously Fort Lee) and Fort Liberty (previously known as Fort Bragg).
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[Albany Rifles]

Love working on Gregg-Adams!