"History" is often just some hogwash written down later by some pencilneck who wasn't there. The secessionists tried to destroy the United States. They were traitors, pricipally beacuse the lost the war, a war they started. The men that were in charge were all lucky they weren't all hung after the war. I would not have any problem renaming Ft. Benning to the name of any MOH VN vet.
"History" is often just some hogwash written down later by some pencilneck who wasn't there. The patriots tried to destroy the British colonies. They were traitors, principally because they objected to the rule of the Crown. They happened to win the war, a war they started. The men that were in charge were all lucky they won or they might've been hanged after the war.
You see how it's not all so cut-and-dry? You know that after 1865, people in the USA were still very much racist/prejudiced against black people, right? That the Northern states weren't any less racist just because they abolished slavery? That just because the official stance of the US government during the Civil War was that slavery was bad and abolition was good, politicians and military personnel and civilians weren't all automatically
not racist towards black people?
There is a military barracks in Augustdorf, Germany that is named after Erwin Rommel. Germany, a country that abhors and is duly ashamed of what happened under the Third Reich, has its largest army base named after one of the single best commanders of Hitler's Wehrmacht. It was named after Rommel in 1961, when it was still located in Allied-controlled West Germany. Let me reiterate:
A German military base in Allied-controlled West Germany was named after a Third Reich military commander less than twenty years after WWII was over.
Savannah GA's Hunter Army Airfield was named after one Major General Frank O'Driscoll Hunter, a native of Savannah and a WWI fighter ace. By all accounts, an outstanding pilot and officer during the Great War, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross with four oak leaf clusters, second behind the renowned Eddie Rickenbacker (who received six). Gen. Hunter was, however, considered a racist later on because he believed that segregation in the Armed Forces was a good thing. One such incident:
Among the units under Hunter's command was the all Negro 477th Bombardment Group stationed at Freeman Field in Seymour, Indiana. Hunter was commanding general when 104 African-American were subjected to military court martial for trying to integrate the base's officer club in early 1945. So a WWI ace and then WWII general was
racist, was he? Should we rename Hunter AAF because he was a
racist bigot?
No. The forts and installations should be named after Confederate, Union, Revolution, WWI, WWII, Spanish-American, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan, whatever. Any and all of the above. Even foreign military personnel we've fought against or fought beside. It doesn't matter if they were racist or if they were "traitors" or if they were utterly inept or what. If a military installation is named after someone, it is out of respect for their memory and for their role in history no matter how marred that memory and role are. Removing them does the memory of the men who died in those wars, on all sides, a deep disservice.
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