The story of Robert Hood, Central Texas Army post’s new namesake
FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) - A ceremony to finalize the Fort Hood name change took place on post Monday.
The tarps covering that covered the signs for weeks were taken down and now read the signs read Fort Hood.
The roar of canon fire signaled that the massive military installation has a new namesake, Colonel Robert B. Hood
“Robert Hood was born in the late 19th century, coming of age during a rapid time of change in America,” said Lt. Gen. Kevin Admiral, Commanding General of III Corps & Fort Hood. “He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Artillery on August 8, 1917.”
Just over a year later, then Captain Hood, found himself leading artillery gun crews of the battlefields in France during World War one.
“After his initial gun crews were lost to German artillery and machine gun fire, he rapidly reorganized his unit, restoring it’s combat capability in short order,” said Gen. Admiral.
He did so in 4 minutes and those actions earned him the Distinguished Service Cross during a battle that itself was history making.
“This was the first offensive launch, mainly by U.S. Army forces, in World War 1,” said Gen. Admiral.
It was actions one combat veteran who attended the ceremony says deserved the medal Hood got.
“We train a lot of that,” said Willie Keller, Commander of VFW Post 12209, located on Fort Hood. “He went back and regrouped, got back, and reengaged the enemy. Anyone looks at the history, he done that and that’s what we’re taught. To never retreat, to actually go and take care of the enemy.”
This ceremony is a piece of Colonel Hood’s history he was happy to be part of.
“How many people in their lifetime can say they were there for redesignation, or a renaming, or the chartering of something,” said Keller. “A lot of us have became a part of something that was already created. You’re there from the conception of it.”
Colonel Hood went on to serve in World War II, even surviving the attack in Pearl Harbor.
His name has now replaced General Richard Cavazos as the name sake of the massive installation.
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