Defense

Army Base Named For Robert E. Lee Changed To Honor Living Black General

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Micaela Burrow Investigative Reporter, Defense
Font Size:

The Army renamed Fort Lee, designated after the Confederate general Robert E. Lee, after two black officers who played a role in creating an integrated military in a ceremony on Thursday, according to a statement.

Fort Lee, now Fort Gregg-Adams, outside Richmond, Virginia, is the third of nine military bases that will be renamed by the end of 2023, according to a congressional requirement to scrub names and insignia in the military seeming to shed a positive light on the Confederacy. Fort Gregg-Adams now commemorates retired Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and the late postal commander Lt. Col. Charity Adams, becoming the first Army installation to be named after black military members, according to an Army release.

“The inspirational quality of the two leaders that we now honor is something that should echo in the mind and heart of every soldier and every American,” Major Gen. Mark Simerly, commander of the Combined Arms Support Command, said at the ceremony, according to Stars and Stripes. (RELATED: Next Army Base Gets New Name Honoring Vietnam War Pilot Who Medevac’d Thousands Of Troops)

In addition, Gregg is the first living person in modern history to have an Army installation named after him, Stars and Stripes reported.

“It really doesn’t make sense to name our military bases after soldiers who fought against America. Renaming them is overdue. Glad to see Fort Lee officially redesignated this afternoon to Fort Gregg-Adams!” Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, who has been especially outspoken in his support for renaming U.S. military installations, said in a statement on social media.

Gregg, 94, enlisted in 1946 before former President Harry Truman signed an executive order ending racial segregation in the military, rising to the rank of three-star general by the end of his career in 1981, according to Stars and Stripes. He was a logistics officer and assigned to Fort Lee in 1950 before commanding one of the largest battalions in Vietnam in 1966.

In 1977, Gregg earned the rank of Lieutenant General and became director of logistics for the Joint Chief of Staff, retiring as the highest ranking minority of his time, the outlet reported.

Gregg told reporters of his satisfaction with the results of racial integration in the Army; “we are a better Army and we are a better country as a result,” he said at the renaming ceremony, according to Stars and Stripes.

Lt. Col. Charity Adams, who died in 2002, served in the fledgling Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 and later led the 6888th Postal Battalion, the first African American women’s unit to serve abroad, during WWII, Stars and Stripes reported. She was known for guiding the battalion to organize and deliver millions of letters at breakneck speed.

“The Army is sending a powerful message when it names a post that trains thousands of soldiers a year for a logistician and a postal clerk,” Charles Bowery, executive director of the U.S. Army Center of Military History, told Stars and Stripes. “Leadership comes in many forms.”

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel