First, Fort Bragg. Then Fort Benning. Is Georgia’s Fort Eisenhower next?

Officials at Fort Eisenhower, the other Georgia base renamed along with Fort Benning, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. And the Pentagon said it had nothing new to add.

But Hegseth has emphasized the importance of legacy, saying this about Fort Bragg’s renaming in 2023: “It’s a shame what was done to vets, service members, their families who were born there, deployed out of there, lived there, gave there.”

“We’re not done there. There are other bases that have been renamed that erode that very same legacy,” he told reporters in Stuttgart, Germany, last month. “But it’s not just Bragg and Benning. There are a lot of other service members that have connections and we’re going to do our best to restore it.”

Fort Bragg’s new namesake, according to the Pentagon, is the late Army Pfc. Roland Bragg of Sabattus, Maine. The Pentagon said the paratrooper received the Silver Star for gallantry and a Purple Heart for wounds sustained during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.

On Monday, the Trump administration renamed Fort Benning after Cpl. Fred Benning of Norfolk, Nebraska. Benning, according to the Pentagon, received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions in 1918 during WWI in France.

The changes drew swift condemnation from Georgia Democrats, who accused the Trump administration of finding veterans who share the same names as Confederate generals.

“Georgians do not wish to honor those who fought to preserve slavery,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said following Monday’s renaming of Fort Benning. “We want to move forward. This is a cynical attempt to take us backwards and to stoke division.”

The debate over military base names resumed after the racially motivated killings at a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. It intensified amid protests for racial justice after the violent death of George Floyd, a Black man, by police in Minneapolis in 2020.

Early the following year, Congress approved an annual defense spending bill over then-President Donald Trump’s veto, creating a commission for renaming military installations that “commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.” Among those posts were ones named after A.P. Hill, Hood, Lee, Pickett, Polk and Rucker, in addition to Benning and Gordon in Georgia. In 2022, the commission’s recommendations for renaming the posts were accepted by the Pentagon.

In May of 2023, a ceremony was held at Fort Benning to rename it in honor of Hal and Julie Moore. Lt. Gen. Hal Moore fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars and received the Distinguished Service Cross for valor. He is buried at Fort Benning along with Julie, who is known for her generous support for military families.

Five months later, hundreds of people attended a ceremony for renaming Fort Gordon in honor of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower started out as a second lieutenant in the U.S. military and rose through the ranks to become supreme commander, leading Allied forces on D-Day and helping liberate Western Europe and defeat Nazi Germany. A Republican from Kansas, he served two terms in the White House.

The late president’s granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower, spoke at the renaming ceremony.

“Our gratitude goes to all the people who have shown such enthusiasm for this change,” she said. “This is where the past and the future can now comfortably reside.”