The renaming continues: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been reversing the renaming of some significant military installations. Sort of. In February, he changed the name of “Fort Liberty,” North Carolina, back to Fort Bragg. Now he’s changed the name of “Fort Moore,” Georgia, back to Fort Benning.
There’s a catch: It’s not the same Benning. The post has been renamed, not after Confederate General Henry Benning, but after a Great War Army veteran, Corporal Fred Benning.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum today directing Fort Moore, Georgia, to be renamed Fort Benning.
The installation will now be renamed in honor of Army Cpl. Fred G. Benning, who “served with extraordinary heroism during World War I with the United States Army, and in recognition of the installation’s storied history of service to the United States of America,” the memo reads.
Originally established and named Camp Benning in October 1918 after Civil War-era Confederate Gen. Henry L. Benning, the installation kept Benning’s name until being renamed Fort Moore — after Army Lt. Gen Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Compton Moore — in May 2023.
SecDef did the same thing in renaming Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, as my friend and fellow Infantry vet, streiff, noted:
Streiff writes:
On the one hand, I applaud the effort by Hegseth to undo the immense damage done to our Armed Forces by Lloyd Austin and the race-baiters and nincompoops he selected to lead the Defense Department. On the other hand, it was too cute by half.