On Monday Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum to rename Fort Moore in Georgia as Fort Benning.
Fort Moore was originally named for Lt. Gen. Harold Gregory Moore Jr., who fought in the Vietnam War and earned the Distinguished Service Cross for Valor.
The new name honors Corporal Fred G. Benning, who fought in the U.S. Army in France in 1918 during World War I.
Banning also earned the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism, after he took command of his platoon when his commanding officers were killed or incapacitated.
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Last month, Hegseth signed an order to rename a base in North Carolina as Fort Bragg.
That base was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 as part of then-President Joe Biden's effort to remove names that honored Confederate soldiers. It was originally named Fort Bragg after Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general and known slave owner from North Carolina.
It has now been renamed for Private First Class Roland L. Bragg, a World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his courage during the Battle of the Bulge.
Hegseth has indicated more name changes are coming.
“There are other bases that have been renamed that erodes that very same legacy,” he said. “There’s a reason I said Bragg and Benning when I walked into the Pentagon on day one. But it’s not just Bragg and Benning. There are a lot of other service members that have connections. And we’re going to do our best to restore it.”
