‘I’m so excited’: Columbus State University hosts meet the Moores

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - Columbus State University holding a special event to celebrate the renaming of Fort Benning to Fort Moore. Students and faculty members got the opportunity to hear about who the 105-year-old Army installation will be named after.

It’s been a few years in the making, with a federal mandate to change the names of nine military bases that commemorated Confederate officers, including Fort Benning.

Last year, the Secretary of Defense approved the new name to be Fort Moore, after a war hero and his wife, Julia Moore, who helped change the way the Army did death notifications. Over the course of his 32-year Army career, Lieutenant General Hal Moore fought in Japan, Korea, and Norway, and led his men through the bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War.

“It means everything to me. It means that mom and dad, and again I say through their character and their values, they live on and that’s what’s important it’s really not about who they are in terms of what they’ve done their accomplishments, but what underlies those accomplishments that anybody can find in themselves,” says Col. David Moore.

At a special event at Columbus State University, Col. David Moore, the son of the Army post’s new namesakes, says it’s not just about his father but also his mom.

“Once, when my dad was coming home from Vietnam, he wrote a letter and said Julie I’m not coming home I need to go back into a fight, and she just said well, I ever get my time so this is her time,” says Col. David Moore.

Courtney Moore, an ROTC Cadet in Columbus who emceed this event, says the renaming of Fort Benning to Fort Moore, a few weeks from now, will impact troops forever.

“So being able to change and see what an impact it makes on soldiers to go from a confederate army and leaders to then changing our culture and our outlook on what leaders are. I think this change in in the naming will inspire others to want to be a part of this organization because they don’t feel the divide,” said Courtney Moore.

One CSU history major also learned a lot about not just the renaming but changes to the Army as a whole.

“It shows the way that the military is changing its opinions cause, like Fort Benning was a confederate, and now we’re changing it for somebody who did a lot of good, and it chose the great change that’s happening,” said Megan Ricketts.

Fort Benning is currently named after Brigadier General Henry Benning, a Georgia lawyer, politician, judge and supporter of slavery. It will officially become Fort Moore on May 11 at Doughboy stadium.