RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's Fort Pickett is about to get a new name.
On Friday, the Army National Guard post will be officially re-designated "Fort Barfoot" in honor of Colonel Van T. Barfoot, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient with extensive Virginia ties.
Fort Pickett is one of nine Army bases across the country currently named after Confederate leaders from the Civil War.
Last year an independent commission recommended those names be changed.
"Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin is grateful for the work of the commission and thanks them for their dedication and their recommendations that will give proud new names that are rooted in their local communities and that honor American heroes whose values, courage and patriotism exemplify the very best of the U.S. military," said Pentagon spokesman, Brigadier General Pat Ryder.
Fort Pickett was originally named after Confederate Major General George Edward Pickett.
The other two Virginia bases scheduled to have their names changed are Fort Lee and Fort A.P. Hill, both of which are also named after Confederate generals.
Fort Lee in Prince George County, Virginia will no longer be named after Robert E. Lee with its new name, Fort Gregg-Adams.
The name honors retired Lt. Gen Arthur Gregg, who left the Army as the second-highest ranked Black officer at the time, and the late Charity Adams, the first Black woman in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.
Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County, Virginia will become Fort Walker in memory of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, and surgeon. She was the only woman to ever receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.