Fort Polk Officially Gets Name Change And Social Media Explodes Over It

Out with the old and in with the new, the Fort Polk Military Base is changing its name to Fort Johnson, effective today. The process of changing the Fort Polk name began back in 2021 with the National Defense Authorization Act.

According to the Act, all Congress-identified Army bases with Confederacy ties to their names would be required to cut ties and change the military bases' name. It just so happens, Fort Polk finds itself underneath that category as it is named after a Confederate general from the Civil War, Leonidas Polk.

On Monday, Fort Johnson officials held a ceremony revealing the new signage outside of the base and the local community sounded off via social media on the official changing of the name. View some of the comments below:

Fort Polk was not the only Military base ordered to change its name, there were eight other military bases throughout the United States that must do the same thing. Bases that were forced to change their names include Fort Benning, Fort Gordon, Fort Bragg, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee, Fort Pickett, Fort Rucker, and Fort Hood.

In May of 2022, it was announced that the name “Fort Johnson” had been submitted to Congress. Fort Johnson would be named honoring Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a North Carolina native who served in the Army during World War I and earned an African American Medal of Honor.

“Sgt. William Henry Johnson embodied the warrior spirit, and we are deeply honored to bear his name at the Home of Heroes,” said Brig. Gen. David W. Gardner, commanding general of the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk

The official ceremony to change the name to Fort Johnson was held today.

Learn more about Sgt. Johnson by CLICKING HERE