Alabama military base redesignation ceremony set for this week after Hegseth orders renaming
Fort Rucker is making its name change official Thursday — its second in two years’ time. An installation redesignation ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at the newly-renamed Fort Rucker in Dale County.
Only this time, the installation takes its name not from a Confederate figure but a World War I aviator.
Fort Rucker was originally named for Confederate Col. Edmund W. Rucker, a brigade commander during the Civil War who fought at Chickamauga, Franklin and Nashville. After the war, he was an industrial figure in Birmingham who made his home in Five Points. He died in 1924.
Then in 2023, the name was changed to Fort Novosel after Enterprise resident Michael Novosel Sr. Under then-President Joe Biden, the Defense Department changed the names of several military bases that honored Confederate figures in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests. Novosel was a military aviator for more than 40 years and received the highest military honor for his service in Vietnam. He died in 2006.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum reversing the naming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg. The base’s new namesake is Capt. Edward W. Rucker, a Missouri native who was called into service in 1916 and saw action in France during World War I. He was credited with helping to down several German planes near Luneville, France on June 13, 1918, according to the Masonic Great War Project.
https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/2025-07-14/fort-rucker-military-base-renaming-18445168.html