Fort Gregg-Adams replaced Fort Lee as the official name for the U.S. Army Base during a Redesignation Ceremony on April 27.

Located in Prince George County, Fort Gregg- Adams recognizes two Black officers, Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams.

Lt. Gen. Gregg, 94, was born in Florence, S.C., but, as a teen, moved to Newport News to live with an older brother following the death of their mother. In Newport News, he admired the area’s Black military soldiers and officers in crisp, well-maintained uniforms, and their professional and personal conduct.

His plans to work as a medical technician became sidetracked by discrimination experienced in Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital where he was told to assist Black patients only. He left and later enlisted in the Army in 1946. He returned to the states in 1949 and completed officer candidate school when he was 22.

“A year later, Gregg became an instructor at Fort Lee’s Quartermaster Leadership School, forerunner of today’s noncommissioned officer academy. In 1966, he commanded one of the largest battalions in Vietnam and earned the Meritorious Unit Citation as a result,” according to a Feb. 14 article written by T. Anthony Bell, USAG Fort Lee Public Affairs office.

“Lt. Gen. Gregg reached the general officer ranks in 1972 and earned a second star in 1976. Pinning his third star in 1977,

Lt. Gen. Gregg was subsequently named director of logistics, Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the first African-American to reach lieutenant general in the U.S. Army.”

Lt. Gen. Gregg retired in 1981 after serving as the Army’s deputy chief of staff, logistics.

The second name is in honor of Lt. Col. Charity Adams, a native of Kittrell, N.C. who died Jan. 13, 2002, in Dayton, Ohio. Lt. Col. Adams joined the Army when a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was created in 1942. Two years later, she was commanding the first unit of Black women to serve overseas. The 6888th Central Postal Directory in England, Lt. Col. Adams’ unit was “tasked with delivering mail to and from almost 7 million soldiers fighting in Europe.” She was the highest-ranking Black woman of World War II, according to Task & Purpose, a military news and culture publication.

In remarks during the renaming ceremony, Lt. Gen. Gregg said, “I hope that this community will look with pride on the name Fort Gregg-Adams and that the name will instill pride in every soldier entering our mighty gates.”

Fort Gregg-Adams is among nine Army installations re-designated in accordance with Defense Department-endorsed recommendations from the congressional Naming Commission to remove the names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that commemorate the Confederate States of America or those who voluntarily served under the C.S.A. The previous Fort Lee was named after Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general.

Congress directed the formation of the Naming Commission in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.