In 2021, a bipartisan agreement listed the plan to rename bases across the country with links to Confederate Generals, and the renaming has begun.
Fort Cavazos
Fort Hood was renamed Fort Cavazos on May 9, 2023. The name was chosen to honor General Richard Edward Cavazos, a hero from his time in service during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Per the Army publication, Lt. General Sean Bernabe, III stated, “We are proud to be renaming Fort Hood as Fort Cavazos in recognition of an outstanding American hero, a veteran of the Korea and Vietnam wars and the first Hispanic to reach the rank of four-star general in our Army. General Cavazos’ combat-proven leadership, his moral character, and his loyalty to his Soldiers and their families made him the fearless yet respected and influential leader that he was during the time he served and beyond. We are ready and excited to be part of such a momentous part of history while we honor a leader who we all admire.”
General Cavazos is Texas-born, so it makes sense that a Texas native’s name will now grace the Texas base. When Cavazos was but a First Lieutenant and serving in Korea, he earned the Distinguished Service Cross. He served in the Army in many different positions in the 1950s and 1960s, including as a professor of Military Science at Texas Tech. He commanded the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment in Vietnam as a Lieutenant Colonel and earned the Distinguished Service Cross again. He became the first Hispanic-American to be promoted to brigadier general in 1973, and in 1982, he became the first Hispanic-American to pin on four stars. He served in the Army for 33 years, retiring in 1984.
Fort Moore
Fort Benning was renamed to Fort Moore on May 11th. Harold Gregory Moore is a United States Army Lieutenant General. He fought in the Korean War and Vietnam War and was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism at the Battle of la Drang. After the Vietnam War, he worked in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense and went on to earn his Master’s in International Relations. He is known for being the first of his West Point Class to be promoted to Brigadier General, Major General, and Lieutenant General.
Per FortMoore.com, the base is also named to honor General Moore’s wife, Julie, who was a lifelong volunteer in service to other Army wives. It is noted that she found out that families were learning of casualty notifications through taxi drivers delivering the telegrams, and she began to follow the cars to provide comfort and information to the families. It is noted that her efforts were part of what spurred the Army to change its policy on casualty notifications. Per the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, “Mrs. Moore’s actions to change Pentagon death notification policy in the aftermath of the historic battle of the Ia Drang Valley represents a significant contribution to our nation. It serves today as a shining example of one of Mrs. Moore’s many contributions to the morale and welfare of the Army family.”
Fort Liberty
Fort Bragg, home to the Airborne and Special Operations Forces, in North Carolina, was renamed to Fort Liberty on June 2, 2023.
Per the Army’s announcement, the name of Liberty was chosen to “the heroism, sacrifices, and values of the Soldiers, Service Members, Civilians, and Families who live and serve with this installation.” The goal behind the renaming to Fort Liberty is to unite the entire military community in the light of pursuing the liberty that America pursues and protects.
With more base names changing, the light will be shown on influential people in the history of military service and our country.
I do not believe we should be removing the names of proud bases, just to pacify the prejudices of a few people in the US. Many of these base names represent men who proudly served our country many years before the Clive war caused them to join the Confederated States.
I am very much in agreement with you. This re-naming of everything this country has just to pacify others is unequivocally ridiculous. The history of our nation is disintegrating right before our eyes.
so true
I agree with SSG Blair 100%. Maybe we should change the United States name to The Happy States or The Colorful States!! David M. Witt, 1SG, U.S. Army(Retired)
This is soooo wrong. Leave the bases as they were. Leave the confederate statues alone as well. It’s all part of history. You can’t change that no matter how much you try and eradicate it unless you continually feed lies to new generations.
It’s such a waste of valuable, limited assets. The past is what it is. Very few people even consider where the posts names came from and don’t see it as honoring past sins. Should we rename all streets, counties and schools named after Washington and Jefferson because they were slave owners? Should we demolish the capitol and the White House because they were built by slave labor? Thousands of of warriors,, blank and white, went through these posts under their previous names and it did not effect their ability to defend this nation, with all its warts and all.
Why do we want to erase an era of military men, most who graduated from West Point with duty, honor and sacrifice as their goals? Yes, the ones who defected did it for what they thought was the right reason, but the Civil War proved them wrong. It does not deter from the fact that they were were soldiers at heart.
So ridiculous History is history and even the woke crowd has no right to change it just because it offends there sensibilities, All of those bases that are having there names changed have proud histories which do not deserve to be changed on a whim.
You are trying to rewrite history. Children were born at Ft, Hood, Bragg, Benning. Friendships , homes and memories don’t change because the names are politically incorrect. Like small towns, cities, States all over America we are part of a large quilt full of mistakes, bad stitching, marks, stains and yet BEAUTIFUL COLORS, its a 200+ year old quilt.. NOW the all powerful government has decided the colors must be changed. Oh NO don’t learn from our history, LETS ERASE IT!!!!! Re Write !! ,oh yes never a civil war, never a union to mend. never patches put on hearts and souls. What is next people??? No more Dallas Cowboys?( Cowboys did hurt the Indians and the did change the Indian names). No more meat markets, fossil fule? Better take Down the big Stadiums The Monuments, The Buildings, that are built by big companies big families, founders. Or change the names… Henry Ford had a horrible history with Nazi Germany Ford needs to be “Petunia”. and Dallas can have a big Yellow Rose on the helmet . So we don’t remember history……just the pretty stuff.
You cannot change history.
That why it is called history.
Confederate forces was a part of history,
You can’t change that.
You just can’t change stuff to make a few people happy. I am Southern and live close to a military base and my son was born there.
They changed the name. How STUPID can you get.
Our guy already had a street named after him.
Return our Ft. Rucker. Please.
Very true
Renaming bases is like saying, “History is not important. ” Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.
You cannot legislate the heart! Do not change the names of proud Bases/Posts/Camps.
The money it costs to demolish statues could be used to feed the poor. By the way some
of these poor were once military. I was a Technical Sergeant in the Air Force and I wouldn’t
trade that experience for anything or anybody! Generally, I ignore snarky political
correctness, but when it comes to interfering with the United States military, I speak up.
Next they’ll want to change Fort Moore because the General served during Vietnam! A war that the woke believes should never happened! You can find prejudices in every title you give! Those men the bases were originally named after were proud Americans in their time! What a disgraceful bunch of so called men and women we have running this country!
Leave them alone. There’s enough political BS in the military today. Social experimentation out of control. Glad I’m long since retired.
Base Name changes are COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY, You can’t change or hide history, but that’s exactly what the democrats are trying to do!!!, complete waste of Money they don’t have!!!!!
So, who’s brilliant idea was it to rename our bases?
Did we ever have a vote on it?
Did our Senators ask us about it?
Just how much did it cost to change the names ?????? No one wants to answer..
I am offended that so many things are being changed to pacify the few who have problems. Our country was built on our history and that cannot be changed. I have lost many friends and family members who fought to give us our freedom, now to have it stripped away is a insult. Leave the past in the past and work to change the future if that is what you want. We would not be where we are at now if it weren’t for the past!