Fort Benning: Named For Confederate General Or Nebraska Veteran?

Fort Benning’s name honored a Confederate general who supported slavery for more than a century. The military changed the name two years ago, but now the Trump administration is set on restoring the familiar name for a different Benning. Skeptics see it as an attempt to score political points but also say that the base's new namesake deserves to be honored. He is Nebraska native Fred Benning and was awarded the military’s second-highest honor for his battlefield courage as an 18-year-old in World War I. He later served as mayor of the small Nebraska town of Neligh and died in 1974.