Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday announced that he is renaming Fort Moore — the name chosen to honor decorated Vietnam Army commander Hal Moore and his wife Julia — less than two years after the base was scrubbed of its previous name honoring a Confederate general.

The Army will return the famed Georgia base to Fort Benning, the name originally chosen in honor of Confederate Henry Benning. However, to keep the name and adhere to a law passed by Congress to eliminate names honoring Confederates, Hegseth chose a World War I junior noncommissioned officer, Cpl. Fred G. Benning, who served with valor and earned the Distinguished Service Cross, as the base’s new namesake.

The latest renaming comes after President Donald Trump opposed a bipartisan push by Congress during his first term to remove the names of Confederates, who fought against the U.S. during the Civil War, from bases and military property. Trump vetoed the legislation but Congress overrode the veto, and Trump has now started to roll back the renaming of nine bases in the U.S.

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The move Monday by Hegseth comes after the defense secretary ordered Fort Liberty, North Carolina, to return to Fort Bragg — though like the former Fort Moore, the new name honors Pfc. Roland Bragg, a World War II paratrooper who earned the Silver Star while serving with the 17th Airborne Division, instead of its original Confederate namesake,

The Georgia base was named in 2023 after Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, a Korean and Vietnam War veteran, known best for commanding 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, in the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in 1965, which was among the first major engagements of the Vietnam War.

The battle was immortalized in the book and movie “We Were Soldiers,” and saw the first major use of contemporary air assault tactics, including soldiers being swiftly inserted into battle and the wounded being rescued with helicopters. Moore died in 2017.

He was also a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross.

Moore’s wife, Julia Moore, also served as the base’s namesake. She transformed the military’s approach to notifying the families of fallen service members.

Her push for a more compassionate process led to the requirement that notifications be delivered in person by uniformed officers, replacing the cold, impersonal telegrams of previous wars. She died in 2004.

Hal Moore was a trailblazer in pushing for racial integration in the Army, advocating for Black soldiers to serve alongside their white counterparts at a time of deep-seated resistance within the ranks. His tenure in South Korea as commander of the 7th Infantry Division laid the groundwork for what would later become the Army’s equal opportunity policies.

Benning is the center of gravity for much of the Army’s ground combat training, serving as the home for basic training for infantry, cavalry scouts and tankers — as well as the service’s legendary Ranger school.

In the 2021 defense budget, Congress mandated the renaming of nine U.S. military installations that bore Confederate names, a move driven by efforts to remove tributes to those who fought against the Union and on the side of slavery.

A commission of civilian and retired military officials overseeing the renaming process made clear in its report that it deliberately avoided selecting new names that coincided with the Confederate honorees being replaced.

Cpl. Benning served in the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in France, according to a Pentagon news release.

On Oct. 9, 1918, his platoon commander was killed and two senior noncommissioned officers were wounded. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross for leading the remaining 20 soldiers in his unit to capture an objective during the Meuse-Argonne offensive — a significant battle on the Western Front that stretched to the end of the war in which some 26,000 Americans were killed alongside 35,000 French troops.

The Army initially established Camp Benning in 1918. Henry Benning, the original Confederate honoree, said in a 1861 speech that his motivation to fight was squarely on preventing the freedom of slaves.

“If things are allowed to go on as they are, it is certain that slavery is to be abolished,” Henry Benning said. “By the time the North shall have attained the power, the Black race will be in a large majority, and then we will have Black governors, Black legislatures, Black juries, Black everything.”

Related: Fort Moore Was Named After My Parents. A Letter Mom Wrote Shows Why It Shouldn’t Go Back to Benning

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