The last military installation in Virginia named after a Confederate soldier has been officially renamed from Fort A.P. Hill to Fort Walker in honor of Doctor Mary E. Walker.
The redesignation ceremony was held as the U.S. celebrates Women’s Equality Day. Major General Trevor Bredenkamp says Mary Walker served the Army with distinction.
“The first woman surgeon in the United States Army, a prisoner of war and the only woman awarded the medal of honor,” Bredenkamp said. “What a fitting tribute that today we designate this installation Fort Walker, the only installation in the Army to be named solely for a woman.” Walker, who was a civilian, treated wounded Union soldiers at field hospitals throughout the Civil War, even though her application to be an official Army surgeon was denied because she was a woman.
Bredenkamp said that Virginia has now renamed all of its military installations named for Confederate soldiers.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III accepted several new renaming recommendations in September.
These new designations included two other installations in Virginia.
Fort Lee will become Fort Gregg-Adams, named for two soldiers, and Fort Pickett will be renamed Fort Barfoot in honor of Army Tech Sgt. Van T. Barfoot, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions with the 45th Infantry Division in Italy in 1944.
