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The U.S. Department of Defense is about to change the identify of Texas’ Fort Hood, America’s largest active-duty armored navy publish, to pay homage to a four-star Hispanic basic as a substitute of its authentic namesake, a Confederate basic.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin introduced the pending change Thursday in a memo to top Pentagon officials and agreed to a advice that the bottom be known as Fort Cavazos. That identify was beforehand recommended by the Naming Commission, which Congress created to counsel new names or removing of names and symbols that commemorate Confederate figures.
Federal officers have till Jan. 1, 2024, to finalize the transition. The change is a part of a broader motion from the naming fee to have the DOD rename 1,111 installations and services. Eight other military bases that derive their names from Confederate figures are additionally slated to have their names modified.
“The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and the values of the United States, and commemorate the best of the republic that we are all sworn to protect,” Austin mentioned within the memo.
Fort Hood homes round 40,000 troopers. It was completely established in 1950 and was named after Gen. John Bell Hood, who spearheaded the Confederate Army’s Texas brigade on the time of the Civil War.
The new identify will honor Gen. Richard Cavazos, the primary Hispanic four-star basic in Texas.
The fort is in Bell County, the place 26.5% of residents are Hispanic.
story by The Texas Tribune Source link