Army renames Louisiana’s Fort Polk after black WWI hero, ditching Confederate historyBy Katherine Donlevy
June 14, 2023
The Army renamed a western Louisiana base Tuesday in an effort to shed its Confederate history — and instead uplift a black World War I hero.
Fort Polk was rebranded as Fort Johnson in honor of William Henry Johnson — who received the Medal of Honor nearly a century after serving on the front lines of France.
The base was previously named after Confederate commander Leonidas Polk.
“Sgt. William Henry Johnson embodied the warrior spirit, and we are deeply honored to bear his name at the Home of Heroes!” Brig. Gen. David Garner, the commanding general of the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, said in a post on Twitter.
Johnson enlisted in the Army in June 1917 and was assigned to the infamous Harlem Hellfighters, known for being one of the first all-black regiments to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces during the First World War.
* * *
Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/06/14/army-renames-louisianas-fort-polk-after-black-wwi-hero-sgt-william-henry-johnson/
