Fort Polk renamed Fort Johnson in honor of decorated WWI soldier
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Croix de Guerre medal winner Private William Henry Johnson holds a bouquet of flowers and stands in an open-top automobile during a victory parade in New York in February 1919. Photo: National Archives/Interim Archives/Getty Images
The U.S. Army officially renamed Fort Polk in Louisiana as Fort Johnson on Tuesday in honor of a Black World War I Medal of Honor recipient.
Why it matters: The move to recognize Sgt. William Henry Johnson instead of Confederate commander Leonidas Polk is part of a wider drive to rename U.S. military bases that were named for Confederate leaders.
The big picture: Johnson served in the all-Black 369th U.S Infantry Regiment and spent 191 days in the frontline trenches during the First World War in which he was wounded 21 times, according to the Army.
- This included when he mounted "a brave retaliation" against a German raid in France's Argonne Forest in 1918 that saw him awarded the French Croix de Guerre a year later — France's highest award for valor.
- Johnson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2015.
What they're saying: "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 Gardner, the commanding general of the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, in a Twitter post.
