True Left

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.

"The Warrior Spirit that burned with in Sgt. William Henry Johnson now inspires generations of Soldiers — Soldiers that will now call JRTC and Fort Johnson home and Soldiers that will continue to come here from all over the nation and the world to train," said Brig. Gen. David Gardner, commanding general of Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Johnson, in a Facebook post.

Johnson's courage became the stuff of legend after the night of May 15, 1918, when he nearly single-handedly stopped German forces from approaching the main French line and taking his fellow soldier prisoner in the process.

He maintained a fierce defense during the surprise attack, continuing to fight even after being injured by enemy fire and running out of ammunition. Johnson turned to hand-to-hand combat and his bolo knife, eventually killing four German troops and wounding between 10 and 20 others, according to the National Museum of the United States Army.

"By the time what a reporter called 'The Battle of Henry Johnson' was over, Johnson had been wounded 21 times and had become the first American hero of World War I," says the U.S. Department of Defense...