Fort Augusta? Fort Versace? These and other names considered to replace Fort Gordon

A commission authorized by Congress to remove the names of Confederates from military installations released on Monday the first part of its final report that includes the names considered for Fort Gordon before members settled on Fort Eisenhower.

In May, the commission released its recommendation to rename the Augusta base Fort Eisenhower. But little information was available about the short list of other candidates prior to this report.

Fort Gordon should be renamed Fort Eisenhower, commission says

Golfing at the National, shopping at the PX: Ike and Mamie Eisenhower loved Augusta

Short list of considered names

• Col. John Aiso (1909-1987) Aiso was an attorney and a second generation Japanese American who helped the army establish a Japanese language school during World War II, which trained about 6,000 interrogators and translators. He served as part of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff in Japan following the war, including helping to prepare for war crime trials.

• Ltc. Alexander Augusta (1825-1890) Augusta was born to a free Black family in Virginia and studied medicine in Toronto. During the Civil War he was commissioned as a major in 1863 and appointed head surgeon of the 7th U.S. Colored Infantry, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel — then the highest ranked Black soldier in the Army.

• Sfc. William Bryan (1933-1969) Bryan was born in Georgia and enlisted in the Army in 1953. In 1969 he was in Vietnam as part of the 5th Special Forces Group when his troops came under attack. For 34 hours he coordinated a defense, helped the wounded and distributed ammunition before being killed during a final assault, actions for which he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.

• T/5 Charles Chibitty (1921-2005) Chibitty enlisted in 1941 as a Comanche code talker, and trained at then-Camp Gordon. During D-Day he was one of 13 code talkers who landed on Utah Beach. When he died in 2005, he was the last surviving Comanche code talker.

• Cpt. Kimberly Hampton (1976-2004) Hampton was born in South Carolina and was commissioned as an aviation officer in 1996. In 2004, she was piloting a Kiowa helicopter near Fallujah to provide cover for ground forces when her helicopter was shot down and she was killed.

• Cms. Mildred Kelly (1928-2003) Born in Tennessee in 1928, Kelly enlisted in the Women's Army Corp in 1950 and served for 26 years. In 1972 she became the first Black woman sergeant major in the Army. Two years later she became the first woman to hold the highest enlisted position at a predominantly male Army base at the Aberdeen proving ground.

• Pfc. Milton Lee (1949-1968) Lee enlisted in 1967 and was trained as a radioman before being deployed to Vietnam, where his platoon came under heavy fire. Lee provided medical assistance to wounded troops, continued his duties as a radioman and killed four enemy soldiers about to ambush his fellow soldiers before being killed himself. He was posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor.

• Msg. José López (1910 - 2005) López was born in Mexico, immigrated to the U.S. and was drafted in 1942. During the Battle of the Bulge he used a machine gun to hold off German forces threatening to overrun his unit, killing more than 100 enemy soldiers. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.

• Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige Jr. (1931-2017) Paige enlisted in the Army in 1947 and graduated from Signal Corps Officer Candidate School in 1952. He rose through the ranks, becoming the first Black general in the Signal Corps in 1979. After his retirement from the military in 1988, Paige served as United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications from 1993 to 1997.

• Cpl. Freddie Stowers (1896 - 1918) Stowers was drafted in 1917 and, as a Black soldier, placed in a segregated unit in the American Expeditionary Force during WWI. In 1918, Stower's unit suffered 50% casualties during an assault on a German held hill, including the officer and senior non-commissioned officers. Stower took command and lead a successful charge to take the hill, although he was mortally wounded. He was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor in 1991.

• Cpt. Humbert Versace (1937-1965) Versace was commissioned as an officer in 1959 and in 1963 was in Vietnam serving with the 5th Special Forces Group when he was wounded and captured following an ambush. During his two years in a POW camp, he defied his captors and attempted to keep up morale among other prisoners, as well as attempting multiple escapes before he was finally executed. He was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor in 2002.

The report also suggests that base locations using the name "Gordon" be swapped for "Eisenhower." The estimated cost of all the assets on base that may need to be swapped is $580,000.

Charles Kelly makes Fort Rucker list

An Augusta local, medivac pilot Maj. Charles Kelly, made it to the shortlist of potential namesakes for Fort Rucker in Alabama, the primary base for Army Aviation training, according to the new report.

In March, Kelly's son, Charles Kelly Jr., spoke to the Augusta Chronicle about his father's connection to the area. Born in Sylvania, Kelly already had a distinguished military career when he picked out a house to retire to in Augusta in the early 1960s.

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"He would drive to Krispy Kreme on Washington Road to get a donut," Kelly Jr. told the Chronicle in March. "He had an Army jeep. He would button it up during a rainstorm and take all the girls to Krispy Kreme."

However, with the Vietnam war ongoing, Kelly decided to hold off on moving to Augusta. His family made the move without him.

"Instead of retiring, he said, 'I'm going to Vietnam' at age 38 with three children," Kelly Jr. said.

Kelly shaped the procedures for helicopter medical evacuation in Vietnam before being killed while flying an evacuation in 1964.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Fort Eisenhower? Fort Gordon short list of new names released