10. Fort Hood, Killeen, Texas
At the beginning of World War II, the United States Army created several new training camps across the country, naming them “distinguished” military leaders from American history. The Army, then segregated, christened several such camps with the names of officers who fought for the Confederacy in the southern states, as a means of “reconciliation”. It repeated a process from the days of the First World War. Camp Hood, which offered the wide-open spaces needed for the testing, training, and development of tactics for tank destroyers, entered service in 1942, named for Confederate General John Bell Hood.
Camp Hood continued to operate as an armored vehicle training center following the war, and in 1950 was renamed Fort Hood in recognition of its permanent status. Over the years it expanded into many other roles and acquired more land. Its importance to the United States Army and its size made it the target of numerous anti-war demonstrations during the Vietnam War and subsequent operations conducted by the United States military. It has also been the target of protests over its use of the name of John Bell Hood, who fought against the United States and expressed his racial views openly and frequently, to the detriment of blacks.
