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National
Rachel Treisman

The U.S. Army renames a base in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a Black WWI hero

New York Army National Guard Sgt. William Henry Johnson, circa 1919. (New York National Guard)

Louisiana's Fort Polk became the latest U.S. Army installation to shed its Confederate namesake on Tuesday when it was officially renamed Fort Johnson after a Black World War I hero.

The base now honors Sgt. William Henry Johnson, whose actions on the front lines in France earned him the nickname Black Death during his lifetime and a posthumous Medal of Honor nearly a century later.

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