A blue-ribbon commission has recommended new names for nine Army bases named after Confederate leaders, including Fort Bragg, which will be recommended to be renamed Fort Liberty, according to a U.S. official, ABC News learned exclusively Tuesday.
Later Tuesday, the commission was expected to formally disclose its recommended names for the bases named after Confederate generals.
Last year, Congress passed legislation that required the renaming of U.S. military installations named after Confederate leaders by 2023.
Congress and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin must approve the nine naming recommendations.
One of the entrances to Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C. The 82d Airborne Division was assigned here in 1946, upon its return form Europe.
Logan Mock-bunting/Getty Images, FILE
Fort Bragg in North Carolina is currently named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, a senior Confederate Army general. It would be renamed as Fort Liberty, the only one of the bases named after a concept, with eight others being renamed mostly after individuals with ties to Army history.
The other bases to be renamed are Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Rucker in Alabama, Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia and Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia.
The panel has recommended that Fort Hood, Texas, be renamed after Richard E. Cavazos, the first Latino to reach the rank of a four-star general in the Army.
Fort Gordon, Georgia, will be renamed after Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Army general who led all allied forces in Europe during World War II and later became president.
The 525th Military Intelligence Brigade conducts aerial recovery training July 19, 2006 at Fort Bragg in N.C.
Logan Mock-bunting/Getty Images, FILE
Fort Lee, Virginia, will be named after two individuals: Arthur Gregg, a former three-star general involved in logistics — the only living individual for whom a base will be named — and Charity Adams, the first African-American woman to be an officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.
Fort Pickett, Virginia, will be named after Van Barfoot, who received the Medal of Honor for his heroism during World War II and is of Native American descent.
Paratroopers in the First Brigade of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division stand in formation after a parachute training jump August 6, 2010 at Camp Mackall, a training ground of Fort Bragg, N.C.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images, FILE
Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, will be renamed after Dr. Mary Walker, a physician and women’s rights activist who received the Medal of Honor for her service during the Civil War.
Fort Benning, Georgia, will be renamed jointly after Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and his wife Julia Moore. Gen. Moore was a pioneer in the Air Cavalry whose Vietnam-era story was memorialized in the book and movie, “We Were Soldiers.” His wife Julia helped improve the casualty notification system and helped with the creation of family support networks.
Fort Rucker, Alabama, will be named after Michael Novosel, a Medal of Honor recipient who flew combat aircraft in World War II and the wars in Korea and Vietnam.
Fort Polk, Louisiana, will be renamed after William Henry Johnson, a soldier whose heroism in World War Two was not honored with the Medal of Honor until 2015.
Correction: The commission that recommended changes to U.S. Army base names was a blue-ribbon commission, not an Army commission.
