Here’s a little note I penned in 2023.
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” the main character, Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party who works at the Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical records to match the state’s ever-changing version of history. Winston revises past editions of The Times, while the original documents are destroyed when they are dropped into ducts called memory holes that lead to an immense furnace. He secretly opposes the Party’s rule and dreams of rebellion, even though he knows he is already a “thought criminal” and will likely be caught one day.
In today’s real world, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday signed off on an independent commission’s recommendations to rename military bases that honor Confederate officers and scrub a long list of references commemorating the southern rebellion.
The Naming Commission, established by Congress last year, inventoried all the military’s current references to the Confederacy. It found nine Army bases and several buildings commemorating rebel officers, as well as a monument honoring Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
“The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and the values of the United States and commemorate the best of the republic that we are all sworn to protect,” Austin, the first Black defense secretary, said in a statement in which he said he agreed with the commission’s recommendations.
The following nine bases are scheduled to be renamed:
- Fort Benning, Georgia — Fort Moore
- Fort Bragg, North Carolina — Fort Liberty
- Fort Gordon, Georgia — Fort Eisenhower
- Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia — Fort Walker
- Fort Hood, Texas — Fort Cavazos
- Fort Lee, Virginia — Fort Gregg-Adams after two Black service members, Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg, a supply logistician who helped desegregate the Army, and Lt. Col. Charity Adams, who oversaw mail distribution in Europe during World War II
- Fort Pickett, Virginia — Fort Barfoot
- Fort Polk, Louisiana — Fort Johnson after Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a Black soldier in World War I who was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2015
- Fort Rucker, Alabama — Fort Novosel after Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel Sr., an Army aviator during the Vietnam War who flew 2,543 extraction missions and rescued more than 5,500 wounded soldiers
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” (Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet Classic, 1950.)
(Author’s note: The Monument to the Confederate Dead was taken down and stored by the Defense Department in 2023. In 2025, the Pentagon announced it will refurbish the memorial and return it to Arlington in 2027, near the burial site of its sculptor, Moses Ezekiel.)
