The Department of War announced that the Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina will be renamed in honor of the late Senator Lindsey Graham.
According to a letter obtained by the Post and Courier, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink ordered staff to begin the process of renaming and based the decision on Graham’s “decades of distinguished service to the United States Congress and the United States Air Force.”
“Senator Graham’s lifelong devotion to the military was shaped by his own military service and his public service in both the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives,” Meink wrote in the letter. “His steadfast advocacy was instrumental in modernizing our military infrastructure and enhancing aviation security, ensuring that Joint Base Charleston remains as one of America’s premier military installations.”
Jack Rives, a former Air Force attorney, wrote in a tribute following Graham’s death, “His political career has been well documented, and history will judge his years in public office. My own remembrances are of the Lindsey Graham I came to know after he entered the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps in 1982.”
“Captain Graham’s first assignment was at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina,” he wrote. “Shortly thereafter, he became the Area Defense Counsel, independent of the base chain of command. One of his early clients was a senior noncommissioned officer accused of marijuana use based on a positive drug test.”
Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been appointed to complete the rest of the late senator’s term.
