The Department of Defense released the news that Pentagon officials began working on renaming military infrastructure that has ties to the Confederate States of America. They plan to complete this process by the state of 2024.
At this point, there are plans to rename nine U.S. Army bases, two U.S. Navy ships, and more than 1,000 items on American military installations.
“Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, William LaPlante, today directed all DOD organizations to begin full implementation of the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense, a.k.a. the Naming Commission and those recommendations,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told the press on Thursday.
Work crews have already begun disassembling the 108-year-old monument that depicts Southern troops marching to war with enslaved people following along at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
“I think we are confident, you know, each of the services has clear instructions in terms of what it is that they need to focus on, and where the secretary is confident that the services are and will continue to take that seriously,” Ryder said.
The total cost of this project has not been disclosed as of yet, but the Naming Commission’s final report calculated the amount to be approximately $62.5 million.
Renaming the nine Army bases will take over $20 million of the funding. The bases include forts Benning, Gordon, Bragg, Hood, Rucker, Polk, A.P. Hill, Pickett, and Lee. There will be new names recommended for these bases, for instance, Fort Bragg will become Fort Liberty. The commission has recommended that Fort Benning be renamed Fort Moore after Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, who served during the Vietnam War.
This process is in response to an October order from the Department of Defense (DOD) mandated in the National Defense Authorization Act.
Following the death of George Floyd in May of 2020, there was a massive outcry against Confederate monuments in America and many were taken down. In September of 2021, the largest Confederate monument on display in the U.S., a statue of Lee, was taken down in Richmond, Virginia.
