Family of Gen. Richard Cavazos, Army's first Hispanic four-star general, saddened by Trump's plan to rename Fort Cavazos in Texas
The family of Gen. Richard Cavazos, the U.S. Army's first Hispanic four-star general, expressed sadness Wednesday over President Donald Trump's plan to restore the original names of several military installations, including renaming Fort Cavazos in Killeen back to Fort Hood.
Base renamed in 2023 to remove Confederate ties
Mr. Trump's announcement comes just two years after the Central Texas base was renamed during the Biden administration as part of a broader initiative to remove Confederate references from U.S. military sites. The base had previously been named after Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood.
In a statement, the Cavazos family said an Army representative confirmed the change during a phone call with them on Wednesday.
Cavazos family told renaming honors a different Hood
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.
Cavazos praised as Hispanic trailblazer
They noted that when Fort Hood was renamed Fort Cavazos, Gen. Colin Powell and others in the military remarked on Gen. Cavazos' impact on "Hispanic persons in the military."
They quoted Maj. Gen. Alfred Valenzuela, as saying, "I told him what he meant to us poor Hispanic kids [...] his impact as a mentor is probably the greatest impact our Army had … we all looked up to him as an American soldier, a Hispanic soldier."
Focus remains on service members
Meanwhile, 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.
Richard Cavazos was a decorated war veteran
In addition to being the Army's first Hispanic four-star general, Gen. Cavazos, a Texas native, 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.
