Relatives of the late Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams-Earley anticipated it, but when President Donald Trump announced their parents' names would be stripped from the Virginia base, they were still surprised.
Trump, in front of a crowd of Army soldiers Tuesday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, said "for a little breaking news" that his administration would be removing the name Fort Gregg-Adams, which was bestowed on the base in 2023, and returning it to Fort Lee, originally named in honor of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who commanded troops of the slave-holding South during the Civil War.
In a follow-up statement from the Army, it became clear that the base would not be explicitly named for the leader of the Confederate troops but instead for Pvt. Fitz Lee, a Buffalo soldier awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in combat during the Spanish-American War.
In all, the Trump administration is restoring the names of nine Army bases that shed Confederate namesakes in 2023 following an independent commission review directed by Congress. In each case, the administration found service members to use as namesakes who shared the names of the Confederate Civil War-era figures that were removed.
The latest renaming was designed to sidestep the law passed by Congress ordering the removal of names honoring Confederates who fought to secede from the U.S. However, in Trump's speech at Fort Bragg, he specifically mentioned "Robert E. Lee."
It was seen as a slight to the descendants of Gregg and Adams-Earley. Stanley Earley, the son of the soldier who served as the highest-ranking Black female officer in World War II, told Military.com that while he wasn't shocked at the change, he was "surprised" as well as "disappointed and upset" by the sudden announcement.
"The naming of Fort Gregg-Adams sent a powerful positive message to the future," Earley told Military.com in an interview Wednesday. "Undoing it sends an even stronger, deeply negative message."
Just two years ago, Fort Lee was renamed for Gregg -- the first Black brigadier general in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps and the first Black lieutenant general in the Army -- as well as Adams-Earley, who was the first Black officer in what would later become the Women's Army Corps prior to her death in 2002.
It was a particularly powerful moment for Alicia Collier, Gregg's daughter. He was one of the first service members in recent history to have a base named after him while he was still alive. He died in August at the age of 96.
"It's very disheartening," Collier told Military.com on Wednesday. "My father worked his entire life trying to move the Army and, as a result, the nation forward, and now we're watching it slip backwards."
Collier and Earley both first spoke to Military.com in February, expressing worries that their parents' names could be removed from the Virginia base under Trump's Department of Defense. Both previously praised the intensive review process of the Naming Commission, which was created by Congress to make recommendations on base names and ultimately landed on their parents' histories to honor.
Notably, neither said anything negative regarding Pvt. Lee, whose name will now adorn the Virginia base. The Spanish-American War hero was born just 25 miles away from the base in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's database.
"During a coastal assault in Cuba, Lee voluntarily disembarked under direct enemy fire to rescue wounded comrades from the battlefield," the Army's statement said.
Ultimately, it's the legal technicalities that are concerning to the relatives of Gregg and Adams, as well as Trump's own admission during the speech that it was to honor "Robert E. Lee."
"I think that the intent is that we're still honoring the original Robert E. Lee," Collier said. "It's a very interesting way to work around."
Neither Collier nor Earley said they had been contacted by government or military officials prior to Tuesday's announcement by Trump.
Earley said he was caught off guard, in part, because in late April, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson honored the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the Six Triple Eight commanded by Adams, with a Congressional Gold Medal.
Johnson praised "the incomparable Lt. Col. Charity Adams-Earley who guided her unit" and commended her "unshakable grace and resolve," according to a copy of his remarks.
In a few weeks, Earley was surprised that sentiment seemed to change.
"They just had the Congressional Gold Medal session for the Six Triple Eight, and there were so many positive statements about the unit and my mother and what they did," Earley said. "It's a little bit surprising."
The renaming of the bases is just the latest in a wide range of Trump administration actions removing historical ties. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to rename a ship that honored Harvey Milk, a gay rights icon, and other ship names are reportedly under review.
Given the cultural shift by the administration, both of the descendants said it's not clear what the next steps forward would be.
"There isn't really any recourse that's likely to be successful, so I guess we'll just have to move forward and hope that maybe, at the very least the original decision to rename, and that Charity Adams’ and Arthur Gregg's names, will still be a part of our history and that we won't erase it," Collier said.
Related: Their Relatives Were Black Heroes. They Fear the Military Won't Celebrate Their Stories Anymore.
