The Courier-Record

It’s hurting, not helping

Just Hanging On


I’m still angry about the renaming of Fort Pickett. It makes no sense to change history.

Honoring someone by naming a military post after them doesn’t mean you support or endorse everything they have ever done. If you look hard enough, you can probably find flaws in most of those who are honored in one way or the other.

It never has been made clear to me who complained about the military posts being named after Pickett and other Southern Generals. I want to know who started the move and why, after all these years, such action was approved.

Statues of famous men and women are being and have been removed all over this country. What has such accomplished?

Apparently anyone who lived in the 18th or 19th century and who happened to own slaves is a target. Will George Washington no longer be the “Father of our Country?” Washington owned slaves. Most families with any means did, also.

Say what you want about it, but we fought a bloody war about that issue. The right side won. It took 100 years for both sides to heal. Now along comes groups who want to stir-up an issue that doesn’t help anyone.

Removing the statue of Thomas Jefferson in New York City in 2021 didn’t make him own any fewer slaves. If he were alive today, he would be opposed to slavery. He was a great man. Why not give him credit for the good he did?

As I said last week, taking down monuments is not about pacifying liberals — it’s a way to rub our noses in it like you do to a puppy when it does his business in the wrong place.

The question is why did our leaders cave-in and agree to the base name changes? Surely, there must be one member of Congress with some guts. I don’t recall seeing any on TV voicing objection. Why not?

Is it because our members of Congress are afraid to oppose those who want to dishonor leaders who for many, many years have been revered by Americans? It just ain’t right.

In last week’s column, I mentioned the bust of General George Pickett, which held a prominent place at Post Headquarters. I wondered where it was. Reader Millie Inge Casey informed us by email that the bust was removed from Pickett many years ago and is on display at the Valentine Museum in Richmond.

She wrote, “When I was in Public Affairs at Pickett, it was returned to the Valentine Museum around the 1982 to 1983 timeframe… The Richmond Times-Dispatch had an article about the museum concerning Confederate generals’ statues and busts there. Our bust at Pickett had a Valentine’s signature, so I called the museum. They had no idea what had become of it as ‘George’ had been loaned out years and years ago to the installation. (We were unable to locate any paperwork on the loan as well.) So, then-Commander Col. Smith (Col. Walter J. Smith) decided it was best to return George to the museum. Many a military person entering post headquarters would put their cover/hat on George’ head. We also decorated him for Christmas.”

If the bust today were still at Pickett — and the military were forced to get rid of it — I would have said give it to the Town of Blackstone. If Blackstone wouldn’t take it, I’d say give it to this newspaper. We have a little museum in this building and, if visitors were to ask about Gen. Pickett, we could have explained to them that in the years 2022 and 2023, our gutless leaders in Washington decided to dishonor men and women who were considered heroes for more than 100 years and whose contributions fill our history books.

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