Fort Colin Powell? Some want this Confederate-named base to honor the late general
Calls to rename a Confederate-named military base after the late Gen. Colin Powell have increased following his death earlier this week, a representative of the commission tasked with renaming those military assets told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.
Stephen Baker, public affairs director of the Naming Commission, said there was a “noticeable uptick” in the number of online submissions recommending that a base be named for Powell. Fort Benning near Columbus was among the installations that survey takers said should bear his name.
Powell died Monday at the age of 84 from COVID-19 complications. He was vaccinated, but his immune system had been compromised by multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell.
“We’re not releasing the numbers of recommendations for any specific names at this time,” Baker said in an email.
Powell has several ties to the Columbus area. After graduating from the City College of New York and receiving a commission as an Army second lieutenant in 1958, Powell went through basic training at Fort Benning. Columbus at that time was still segregated, and during a 2016 interview with CBS, Powell recalled not being able to get a hamburger in the city.
William J. McCaffrey, a retired lieutenant colonel, told The New York Times during a 1991 interview that bartenders wouldn’t serve Powell drinks in the city.
“We would intimidate the bartender,” McCaffrey told the Times. “We threatened him — ‘this is our Ranger partner, you have to serve him.’ And they would,”
Immediately after his first tour in Vietnam, Powell; his wife, Alma; and their children returned to Fort Benning. They briefly lived in a rental home in Phenix City before moving into a government-owned home in Columbus. Powell attended Infantry Officer Advanced Course at the post and was promoted to major in 1966.
He left Benning in 1967. Powell’s home at 172A Arrowhead Road is marked with a bronze plaque in commemoration, according to Fort Benning’s website.
After retiring from the military in 1993, Powell went on to serve as the nation’s first Black secretary of state under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005.
Powell already has a roadway named after him in the Columbus area — Colin Powell Parkway in Phenix City. Powell also attended the grand opening of the National Infantry Museum in 2009.
Calls to name a base for Powell go beyond submitted online name recommendations. Washington Post editorial writer and columnist Charles Lane also called for Fort Benning to be renamed Fort Powell.
The Naming Commission is collecting name recommendations from the public until Dec. 1. Bases and other Department of Defense-owned assets with Confederate-affiliated names must be changed. It’s required under the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Fort Benning is named for Confederate general and slaveholder Henry Benning.
As of late October, the Naming Commission had received nearly 30,000 name recommendations. More than 25,000 came during the first two weeks that its website opened. In the last two weeks, the commission has received more than 100 recommendations a day, Baker said. The website went live in early September.
On Oct. 1, 2022, the commission will issue a final report that includes a list of identified assets, the costs to remove or rename them, and the criteria and methods developed to identify those assets. The secretary of Defense will implement the commission’s renaming plans before Jan. 1, 2024.
The L-E previously reported that some of the new name suggestions for Benning include George C. Marshall; Hal and Julie Moore; Col. Ralph Puckett Jr.; and the Maneuver Center of Excellence
“The amount of submissions received for any particular name has no bearing on the final recommendations the commission will make. Whether a name is submitted once or 5K times, it will be reviewed and considered on its own merit when the commissioners begin deliberations,” Baker said.
This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 6:00 AM.