Valor Friday
Henry Johnson, MOH
This week I want to highlight the nine US Army installations that are being renamed this year. The latest was renamed just this week for the above pictured man. Fort Polk, Louisiana is now henceforth known as Fort Johnson, after Medal of Honor recipient William Henry “Black Death” Johnson of the legendary Harlem Hellfighters. We previously discussed the man here, and the Hellfighters we talked about here.
Only two more bases are scheduled to be renamed. Fort Gordon will be renamed Fort Eisenhower after former President, Army General of the Army, and Supreme Allied Commander Europe Dwight Eisenhower in October. Fort A.P. Hill will be renamed at an undetermined date to Fort Walker in honor of Mary Edwards Walker (the only female MoH recipient and a bad ass lady).
The six other facilities that have been renamed, and links to discussions we’ve had or outside articles if we haven’t gotten to them yet, are;
- Fort Barfoot was formerly Fort Pickett. Renamed on 24 March 2023, the base carries the name of Colonel Van T. Barfoot. Barfoot was a technical sergeant with the 45th Infantry Division in Italy during WWII when he earned the Medal of Honor. He had previously received the Silver Star. By the time the awards caught up with him in 1944 he’d received a battlefield commission.
- Fort Novosel, formerly Fort Rucker, is well known as the world’s largest rotary wing training base. On 10 April it was changed to honor CWO4 Michael Novosel. I discussed the amazing man he was at length in a previous Valor Friday.
- On 27 April, Fort Gregg-Adams was renamed from Fort Lee. Named now for Lt Gen Arthur Gregg (a mustang officer who was one of the first black men to achieve such high rank and now the only living person in modern times to have a Army facility named for them) and Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley (the first black WAAC officer, commander of the legendary 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion during WWII, and the highest ranked black woman in WWII).
- Fort Hood was renamed Fort Cavazos on 9 May. General Richard Cavazos was a 33-year career officer. The first Hispanic to make four-star rank in the Army, he earned the DSC as a lieutenant in Korea and a second DSC in Vietnam as a lieutenant colonel.
- Fort Benning, Home of the Infantry, is now known as Fort Moore. It is named for Lieutenant General Hal Moore and his wife Julia. Hal Moore was a DSC recipient for leading 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the first major ground action for American troops in Vietnam at the Battle of Ia Drang. I talked about him, albeit briefly, in my article about Joe Galloway.
- Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty on 2 June.
Category: Army, Distinguished Service Cross, Historical, Medal of Honor, Valor, We Remember
As mentioned before…
“DeSantis, Pence Campaign on Reversing Fort Liberty Designation”
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/06/12/gop-hopefuls-vow-scrap-fort-liberty-return-confederate-namesake-fort-bragg.html
“Two Republican presidential contenders took aim at the Army’s recent move to rename military bases that for decades honored Confederates who waged war against the U.S., saying that as president they would return to those rebel namesakes.”
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence promised to restore Fort Liberty, North Carolina, to Fort Bragg. The base was renamed this month, scrubbing the name of a Confederate general widely considered among the least successful military leaders in the conflict.”
“It’s an iconic name and iconic base, and we’re not gonna let political correctness run amok in North Carolina,” DeSantis, who was referencing Fort Bragg, told a crowd at the North Carolina Republican Party convention Friday.”
“We will end the political correctness in the hallways of the Pentagon, and North Carolina will once again be home to Fort Bragg,” he said Saturday at the North Carolina Republican event in Greensboro.”
Not.gonna.happen. Virtue signaling at its finest. No matter who is (s)elected in 2024, the Repugnicunts will roll over and let the Demonrats rubs their belly. Tho $62 million (the amount that these name changes are gonna cost) is a rounding error in the overall budget of the fed dot guv that $ could be well spent somewhere else.
I think that instead of changing the names of military bases, we need to change the Kongress Kritters that are spending the Country into bankruptcy.
To quote our very own Thunderstixx…WE’re DOOOOOMED!
🫣🙄
real on
Two Republican presidential contenders took aim at the Army’s recent move to rename military bases that for decades honored Confederates who waged war against the U.S., saying that as president they would return to those rebel namesakes.”
Edited to protect PII.
AW1
These all seem like good choices to me. There may be better choices but they’re not bad.
Cannot fully agree. Gregg-Adams? Because he was a high ranking black? No. Just because she was a high ranking black WAAC? No. Equal opportunity, trendy, and trying to appease 12 percent of the population, yes. I doo like Fort Moore. The home of the infantry named for him, who was pretty much the personification of the infantry, kewl.
Fort Moore is an excellent choice.
Fort Liberty….not so much. It sounds like a fictional base from vidya or a cheesy sci fi/action film.
There were many better choices for Bragg.
Fort Benavidez.
At least they haven’t renamed Fort Dix as Fort Chickswith-Dix
It should be noted that after the Civil War, all the Confederates who fought were presidentially pardoned, and have been considered as US soldiers for some time now. Thus those names were just fine except they were in the way of potential woke advances.
Since MLK was a rapist, adulter and plagiarizer…is there a movement to rename everything MLK to someone else?
Don’t need to. The commies coming out of our insane asylums (schools) will be tearing his statues down next.
As far as I am concerned, it remains Ft. Polk.
Did basic and AIT there in 74. It will always be Fort Polk.
This is as stupid as giving the entire army black berets so they would look like Rangers. Which fort are they going to name Ft. Milly,for the trannys?