General Cavazos among name change suggestions for Fort Hood by LULAC
Fort Hood is one of ten military installation with a name tied to the confederacy that the United States Military is reviewing for a future name change.
The process began earlier this year as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which allowed for the creation of an eight-person panel that would help decide the future of any confederate named property. The panel is labeled as the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense That Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, or the ‘Naming Commission’ for short.
At a recent meeting of the commission at Fort Hood, the League of United Latin American Citizens suggested two possibilities for its new namesake.
The first is MSG Roy Benavidez, and the other, Kingsville’s own Maj. Gen. Richard E. Cavazos.
Cavazos was born in Kingsville and was raised on the King Ranch. He attended Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech, where he played football and was a part of the ROTC program.
Cavazos, in his military career, earned the Distinguished Service Cross two times, was twice awarded the Silver Star, awarded the Bronze Star with V Device five times and had 29 other combat awards including the Purple Heart. He was also an Airborne Ranger qualified and wore one star on his Combat Infantryman's Badge.
In Feb. 1982, Cavazos made history as the first Hispanic to be promoted to a 4-Star General in the United States Army. Cavazos served in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
National LULAC President Domingo Garcia said at the Fort Hood meeting that both Cavazos and Benavidez deserve to be in consideration for the name changes.
“We believe that whoever is chosen it will be somebody that our current men and women in uniform will be proud of their values; be proud of their service and be proud of what they stand for when they come through the gates,” Garcia said.
Leonard Gonzalez, LULAC Vice Chair for the National Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs, in a statement to STCN said Cavazos was a “General among Generals.”
“To underscore his status as the first Hispanic Brigadier General and first Hispanic 4-Star General is to recognize the stature and uplifting role model of this man for the Hispanic community. His achievements speak to our community to never accept the crumbs provided by racism and to persevere according to our talent in all endeavors,” Gonzalez said.
“Our National President also nominated Richard E. Cavazos as a second consideration as another U.S. military hero, and hero of our community, deserving of being memorialized. In this process of consideration in renaming bases from traitors to heroes; Hispanics are among the most highly decorated, and many, many, posthumously - Both Roy and Richard deserve a base. Let's start with Fort Hood and move on to Fort Bragg.”
The naming commission first met on March 2, and has been having meetings on a bi-weekly basis. It must report its progress to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on Oct. 1 and have completed its work a year after that. They will continue to meet on the bi-weekly schedule until their deadline.
