The Department of Defense (DOD) will officially begin the estimated $62 million process of renaming or removing military assets seen as honoring the Confederacy, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
\nEach service has until Jan. 1, 2024 to implement the changes recommended in a report compiled by the DOD\u2019s Naming Commission, created after Congress instructed DOD to identify and root out any symbols, buildings, equipment or other assets that might appear to\u00a0commemorate\u00a0the Confederacy in 2021,\u00a0according\u00a0to a statement. The Naming Commission presented its third and\u00a0final report\u00a0to Congress in September, detailing hundreds of items that would need renaming for an estimated cost of $62 million, The Washington Post\u00a0reported.
\n\u201cEach responsible DoD organization has submitted a comprehensive plan of action and milestones,\u201d the statement read.
\nSecretary of Defense Lloyd Austin\u00a0agreed\u00a0with the commission\u2019s recommendations in October, but DOD could not take action until a congressionally mandated 90 day waiting period expired.
\nThe services \u201care and will continue to take that seriously,\u201d Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters at a press conference Thursday, saying he was \u201cconfident\u201d the services would meet the deadline.
\nOver the winter break from Dec. 2022 to Jan. 2023, West Point\u00a0began\u00a0removing or relocating 12 Confederate articles, including a portrait of Confederate general Robert E. Lee,\u00a0identified\u00a0in the commission\u2019s report, as well as bronze plaques\u00a0bearing\u00a0Confederate figures and references to the Ku Klux Klan.
\nThe Army tallied the highest number of buildings, equipment, symbols and other assets representing the Confederacy, including 52 National Guard units who historically fought against the Union in the Civil War authorized to use campaign streamers bearing colors and markings of the Confederacy, according to the third report. A monument honoring Confederate soldiers interned at Arlington National Cemetery \u201creflecting the sanitized \u2018Lost Cause\u2019 view of the Civil War,\u201d may also come down.
\nThe 29th infantry division symbol generated exceptional controversy. Comprised for the first time of soldiers who fought on opposite sides during the Civil War, the division was notated by a yin-yang symbol in gray and blue.
\n\u201cIn its outreach to stake-holding parties, however, the Commissioners heard nearly unanimous feedback \u2026 that the meaning of the 29th Infantry Division insignia had evolved beyond its origins,\u201d and for many, it represents Americans \u201cstrengthened by their diversity,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n