Confederate Named Posts

       The Pentagon has named the people who will guide the process of renaming Alabama's Fort Rucker and nine others named for confederate figures. None of them, so far as I can tell, have any connections with Alabama.

     Stars and Stripes names the committee members:

"Miller selected Sean McLean of California, Joshua Whitehouse of New Hampshire, Anne G. Johnston of North Carolina and Earl Matthews of Pennsylvania to serve on the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, according to Pentagon news release issued Friday.

The commission is mandated by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which sets funding and policy for the military."

I've made my own new name suggestion for Rucker, but the Military.com website has its own proposal:

 

9. Fort Rucker (Alabama)

Fort Rucker is named for Col. Edmund Rucker, a Confederate Army chef who designed a way for Confederate troops to live on eating grass. While that's not even remotely true, no one outside of Fort Rucker knows that or cares to Google it. Rucker wasn't even from Alabama, he just made a lot of money there.

The first suggestion for renaming the base goes to Gen. Oliver W. Dillard, the fifth African American flag officer in Army history, the first black intelligence general and a National Intelligence Hall of Famer. He joined during World War II and served through Korea, Vietnam and most of the Cold War.

But if time in service is what we're looking for, look no further than Alabama's own Sgt. Maj. Gilbert "Hashmark" Johnson. Johnson first enlisted in the Army in 1923 and was discharged as a corporal six years later. After four years as a civilian, he again enlisted, this time in the Navy. "Hashmark" was aboard the USS Wyoming when the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor, but later that year, he was one of the first black men to join the United States Marine Corps.

If there's a problem with an Army base named for a Marine, look at who it's named for now, then look at this photo of Hashmark. (U.S. Marine Corps)

Johnson spent another 17 years in the Corps, with a total of 32 years in service. He earned the name "Hashmark" because he had more service stripes than stripes indicating his rank. Welcome to Fort Hashmark.