Fort Hood in Texas reverts to original name after brief renaming to Fort Cavazos
Just two years after being renamed Fort Cavazos, the U.S. Army base in Central Texas has reverted to its original name — Fort Hood.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced his intent to restore the names of several military installations that were changed during the Biden administration.
"We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It's no time to change," Mr. Trump said while visiting Fort Bragg ahead of the U.S. Army's 250th birthday celebration.
The Killeen base was originally named after Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood. In 2023, it was renamed to honor Texas-native Gen. Richard Cavazos, the U.S. Army's first Hispanic four-star general.
Cavazos was a decorated veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He also served as the commanding general of III Corps at Fort Hood from 1980 to 1982.
The fort is now named for World War I hero, Col. Robert Benjamin Hood, the Fort Hood Media Center said.
A Distinguished Service Cross recipient, Hood was dedicated to his Soldiers and deeply respected by his peers and subordinates, III Armored Corps and Fort Hood Commanding General Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral said.
"Colonel Hood represents the ideal citizen-soldier, a man who rose to the occasion when his nation needed him most, and continued to give back long after the fighting had ceased," Admiral said. "In recognition of his service, Colonel Hood's name will live on as generations of Soldiers who served and will serve here learn about his career and the impact he had on our Army."
The renaming was part of a national renaming process ordered by Congress and completed under President Biden to remove Confederate references from U.S. military sites.
Hood family humbled, honored by redesignation
Mitzi Huffman, Hood's daughter, attended the July 28 ceremony with her husband and other family members. She said the post's redesignation in her father's name has been humbling and overwhelming.
"I've been very humbled," she said. "He never talked about his military experience. I did not know that he had a Distinguished Service Cross until we were preparing him for burial in Arlington."
Hood passed away when Huffman was a young teen, the Fort Hood Media Center said, but Huffman said she remembers his military bearing and discipline during her childhood. She said her father encouraged his daughters to be strong when most young women were graduating from high school and marrying.
Cavazos family saddened by Texas Army base name change
The Cavazos family expressed sadness when they learned of Mr. Trump's plan to revert the base's name to Fort Hood.
In a statement, the Cavazos family said they were told the renaming may honor a different Hood, whom they described as the "courageous Colonel Hood of World War I" rather than, in their words, the "infamous Gen. John Bell Hood."
"We do not and cannot share the same understanding as the president as to his reasoning for doing so," the family said in the statement.
The family said its "greatest focus is and should always be on the everyday men and women who serve this country in the armed forces."
"While the name of the base may change, the everlasting legacy of the incredible men and women who continue to serve there cannot," the statement said.
Trump plans to restore original Confederate names of additional Army bases
Mr. Trump said in June that he plans to restore several Army base names that originally honored Confederate military figures
- Fort Pickett – Virginia
- Fort Gordon – Georgia
- Fort Rucker – Alabama
- Fort Polk – Louisiana
- Fort A.P. Hill – Virginia
- Fort Robert E. Lee – Virginia
Earlier this year, the Trump administration changed back the names of Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, and Fort Benning, in Georgia. The two bases were previously named after Confederates, but were renamed in recent years to Fort Liberty and Fort Moore — and then were changed back to recognize non-Confederate soldiers with the last names Bragg and Benning.
