The name “Fort Rucker” is one step closer to being a thing of the past.
Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has signed off on an independent commission’s recommendations to rename Alabama’s Fort Rucker and other installations that were named for Confederate leaders.
The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act created an eight-person Congressional commission to develop a plan for renaming military installations, roads and buildings that honor Southern leaders. Austin said the renaming will begin “as soon as possible,” following the required 90-day waiting period required by the NDAA. All of the changes will be complete by 2024, according to Austin’s memo.
“The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and values of the United States and commemorate the best of the republic we are all sworn to protect,” Austin wrote. “The commission has chosen names that echo with honor, patriotism and history – names that will inspire generations of service members to defense our democracy and our Constitution.”
Fort Rucker will be renamed for Michael Novosel Sr. Novosel, who lived in Enterprise, was a military aviator for more than 40 years and received the Medal of Honor for his service in Vietnam. He died in 2006. The base is currently named for Col. Edmund Rucker, a brigade commander in the Confederate Army during the Civil War who became an industrialist in Birmingham.
Other bases to be renamed are:
- Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia renamed for Dr. Mary Walker
- Fort Bragg, North Carolina renamed Fort Liberty
- Fort Benning, Georgia renamed for Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia
- Fort Gordon, Georgia renamed Fort Eisenhower
- Fort Hood Texas reamed Fort Cavazos
- Fort Lee, Virginia renamed Fort Gregg-Adams
- Fort Pickett, Virginia renamed Fort Barfoot
- Fort Polk, Louisiana renamed for Sgt. William Henry Johnson.
The cost to rename the bases will be more than $20 million, $1.5 million of which will go towards renaming at Fort Rucker.
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