Louisiana Army base named after Confederate general renamed to honor Black WWI hero

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Military changing confederate names at bases

Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports on the Pentagon Naming Commissions proposal to rename Army bases and remove Confederate statues and art on America Reports.

A Louisiana Army base named after a Confederate general has been renamed after a Black war hero and Medal of Honor recipient.

Western Louisiana’s Fort Polk, named after Confederate commander Leonidas Polk, will now be known as Fort Johnson to honor Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a Black hero of World War I who posthumously received the Medal of Honor in 2015.

"Sgt. William Henry Johnson embodied the warrior spirit, and we are deeply honored to bear his name," Brig. Gen. David Garner, the commanding general of the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, said in a post on Twitter.

While serving on the front lines of France in 1918, Johnson fought off a German night raid near the Argonne Forest, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Army.

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The U.S. Army base in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, is renamed Fort Johnson in honor of a Black World War I hero, Tuesday, June 13, 2023. (AP Newsroom)

Johnson was wounded 21 times while beating back the attacking forces. He also prevented a wounded Black comrade from being taken prisoner when, after running out of grenades and ammunition, he killed two German soldiers with his knife.

He survived the war, and former President Theodore Roosevelt named him one of the five bravest Americans to serve in the conflict. He insisted he was no hero, and the Army biography quotes him as saying, "There wasn’t anything so fine about it. Just fought for my life. A rabbit would have done that."

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An aerial view of the Pentagon on May 10, 2023. (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)

The renaming of the base represents the latest in a push by the Biden administration to rename military installations honoring Confederate officers. Fort Johnson is one of nine Army posts that will get a new name.

The Biden administration received praise on social media for the move, including from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

"Today following years of advocacy: Fort Polk is going to be officially renamed Fort Johnson in honor of American hero, Albany resident, Harlem Hellfighter, and Medal of Honor Recipient Sgt. Henry Johnson!" Schumer tweeted.

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The push to rename the military bases has faced criticism in recent years from those who suggest the administration should focus on more pressing issues that face the military such as sagging recruitment and suicides.

The Associated Press contributed to this report