By Troy Turner
Fort Benning, Georgia – one of the largest military bases in the world – was renamed for an Army hero and his wife who resided in Auburn late in their lives. Alabama’s Fort Rucker was renamed for a Medal of Honor helicopter pilot who made a series of daring rescues during heated battle in the Vietnam War.
A Congressional mandate to replace names on American military facilities and naval ships linked to the Confederacy and Southern icons of the Civil War resulted in new names selected by a federal commission for several major installations, and the change coming to hundreds of auxiliary names of other entities included in the mandate.
Thousands of suggestions were made to the commission during its open invitation for online submissions. Below is some of the history behind the new names and the process of selecting them.
Fort Rucker to Fort Novosel
Fort Rucker, the largest military installation in Alabama, specializes in helicopter training and development. It is the Army’s premier aviation facility, covering 64,000 acres in the state’s southern Coffee and Dale counties.
The commission chose to rename it Fort Novosel, in honor of Army aviator Michael Novosel Jr., who “assigned to Vietnam… flew helicopters evacuating combat zone casualties; a dangerous mission in which approximately one third of all medevac pilots became casualties themselves.
“In Novosel’s two tours in Vietnam, he flew 2,543 extraction missions, rescuing over 5,500 seriously wounded soldiers.”
Fort Benning to Fort Moore
Fort Benning, just across the Chattahoochee River and state line, is the Army’s mammoth infantry, armor and special forces training grounds, among other forces based and trained there.
Its new name is Fort Moore in honor of Hal and Julia Moore.
Hal Moore, the highly decorated Army officer who was portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie “We Were Soldiers,” passed away in 2017 at his home in Auburn.
Wife Julia, who died in Auburn in 2004, was known for her efforts to comfort the families back home of soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War’s bloody Battle of la Drang. Wheels were set in motion after that to improve the Army’s notification process, inspired by Julia Moore’s leadership.
The Moores, along with their children and extended family, were well known in Auburn for many years.
On the list…
The extended list of “identified assets” at affected military sites and organizations goes far beyond primary facility names and includes everything from street signs to individual buildings, including “symbols, displays, monuments, or paraphernalia that commemorate the Confederate States of America.”
Among the more significant name changes to come, however, including their state, name history, and new name proposal, include:
Fort Rucker (Alabama): Named for Confederate Col. Edmund Rucker, who after the Civil War lived in Birmingham and became one of the state’s most prominent business leaders; to Fort Novosel.
The installation has a storied history, including during World War II when four infantry divisions trained at “Camp Rucker,” and German and Italian prisoners of war were interned there.
–Fort Benning (Georgia): Named for Confederate Brigadier Gen. Henry Benning; to Fort Moore.
–Fort Gordon (Georgia): Named for Confederate Major Gen. John Brown Gordon; to Fort Eisenhower, in honor of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
–Fort Bragg (North Carolina): Named for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg; to Fort Liberty, “in commemoration of the American value of Liberty.”
–Fort Lee (Virginia): Named for Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee; to Fort Gregg-Adams, in honor of Army officers Arthur Gregg and Charity Adams.
–Fort A.P. Hill (Virginia): Named for Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill; to Fort Walker, in honor of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker who courageously served to save lives treating wounded soldiers during the Civil War.
–Fort Hood (Texas): Named for Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood; to Fort Cavazos, in honor of Gen. Richard Cavazos’ heroic battlefield service and leadership in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
–Fort Pickett (Virginia): Named for Confederate Gen. George Pickett; to Fort Barfoot, in recognition of Medal of Honor recipient Van T. Barfoot, who fought with valor in battle despite overwhelming odds against German forces in World War II.
–Fort Polk (Louisiana): Named for the Rev. and Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk; to Fort Johnson, in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson, one of the American Army’s first highly decorated black soldiers who stood his ground in fierce fighting during World War I.
Additionally, several U.S. Navy vessels could be renamed, including:
USS Chancellorsville, named for a major battle won by the Confederacy.
USNS Maury, named for Confederate naval Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury.
USS Antietam, named for a battle that was a Union victory but resulted in strategic significance for the Confederacy.
34,000-plus submissions
“The commission received more than 34,000 submissions about renaming, through community engagements and a public comment period via its website,” it reported. “Analysis of the recommendations identified 3,670 unique names among the submissions for potential use.
“Using criteria that will be detailed in the final report and aided by extensive research by a team of historians, the commission reviewed the list and conducted deliberations to narrow the list… before deliberating final name recommendations.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, an Alabama native, was charged with implementing a plan no later than Jan. 1, 2024, three years after the mandate became law.
“While we anticipate that renaming activities would take place around that timeframe, the role of the commission is strictly to provide recommendations, not execute activities on behalf of DOD,” it stated.
Senator opposed change
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said he adamantly opposed the law calling for the name changes, telling The Southeast Sun, a newspaper in Enterprise, when the new law was proposed that he would work against it.
“We’re going to fight that,” Tuberville said. “You can’t destroy history; you can’t change it. We need to learn from history.
“I believe in our history and how we got here, right or wrong. We build off of history and changing the things that we need to change, but we don’t need to be destroying history. You have to learn from it.”
Potential new names
There were other Alabama connections included in the final deliberation list that was considered.
Among them: Robert Howard.
Howard was an Opelika native and remains one of the most decorated soldiers in American military history, including the Medal of Honor. He served in special forces during the Vietnam War, was wounded 14 times during that war, retired as a colonel, and passed away in 2009 at his home in Texas.
There also were several famous names being considered, such as Audie Murphy and Colin Powell.
The complete list of semi-finalists that was considered by the commission to use at one of the military entities:
John Aiso
Alexander Augusta
Vernon Baker
Van Barfoot
Powhatan Beaty
Roy Benavidez
Omar Bradley
Ruby Bradley
William Bryant
Jose Calugas
William Carney
Alwyn Cashe
Richard Cavazos
Cornelius Charlton
Charles Chibitty
Ernest Childers
Mary Clarke
Mitchell Red Cloud
Harold Cohen
Felix Conde-Falcón
Courage
Bruce Crandall & Ed Freeman
Benjamin Davis, Sr.
Ernest Dervishian
Desmond Doss
Charity Earley
Dwight Eisenhower
Marcario García
James Gavin
Eduardo Gomez
Gary Gordon & Randall Shughart
Arthur Gregg
Barney Hajiro
Kimberly Hampton
Anna Hays
Rodolfo Hernández
Robert Howard
Lawrence Joel
Henry Johnson
Hazel Johnson-Brown
Charles Kelly
Mildred Kelly
Charles Kettles
Milton Lee
José López
John Magrath
George Marshall
Frank Merrill
Jimmie Monteith
Hal & Julia Moore
Sadao Munemori
Audie Murphy
Michael Novosel, Sr.
Elsie Ott
John Page
Emmett Paige, Jr.
Frank Peregory
Emily Perez
Pascal Poolaw
Colin Powell
Ralph Puckett
Matthew Ridgway
Ruben Rivers
Roscoe Robinson, Jr.
Tibor “Ted” Rubin
James Rudder
Alejandro Ruiz
Benjamin Salomon
Ruppert Sargent
Paul Smith
Donn Starry
Freddie Stowers
Jon Swanson
Central Texas
Charles Thomas
Hugh Thompson, Jr.
Harriet Tubman
Humberto Versace
John Vessey, Jr.
Francis Wai
Mary Walker
George Watson
Homer Wise
Rodney Yano
Alvin York
Charles Young
Rodger Young
For more information on The Naming Commission: https://www.thenamingcommission.gov/home
