The price tag to rename 9 military bases will be about $21 million, according to the latest report from the Department of Defense naming commission.
The commission released its report to Congress Monday outlining the proposed names for facilities that currently are named for people with ties to the Confederacy. Alabama’s Fort Rucker, named for Confederate officer and Birmingham business leader Edmund Winchester Rucker, is on the list. The Naming Commission has recommended Rucker be renamed for Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michal Novosel Sr., a Medal of Honor recipient and resident of Enterprise, Alabama. Novosel died in 2006.
The cost to rename the bases will be more than $20 million, $1.5 million of which will go towards renaming at Fort Rucker.
The report also includes a list of assets to be renamed, covering everything from outdoor signs and plaques on displays to the installation website and welcome mats.
The highest price tag – $6.3 million – will be turning Fort Bragg, North Carolina into Fort Liberty. The lowest cost is from Fort Pickett, a training site for the Virginia Army National Guard, where renaming will cost $300,000.
In addition to Rucker, Bragg and Pickett, renamed bases will be Fort Benning in Georgia, renamed for Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Julia Moore; Fort Gordon, Georgia renamed for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower; Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia renamed for Dr. Mary Edwards Walker; Fort Hood, Texas renamed for Gen. Richard E. Cavazos; Fort Lee Virginia renamed for Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams; and Fort Polk, Louisiana renamed for Sgt. William Henry Johnson.
The Department of Defense has said it will complete the renaming process by January 24.
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