Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger – the service’s top officer – has ordered all Confederate-related paraphernalia from Marine Corps installations.
The announcement comes amid nearly two years of ongoing controversy over what to do with some 700 Confederate statues, erected across 31 states – sparking a fierce national debate.
“Last week, the Commandant of the Marine Corps directed specific tasks be reviewed or addressed by Headquarters Marine Corps staff,” Marine spokesman Maj. Eric Flanagan told Task & Purpose Wednesday.
Just several weeks ago defense officials told a House subcommittee that “belonging to a white supremacist or neo-Nazi group would not automatically get a service member kicked out of the U.S. military.”
The decision also comes a week after a congressional hearing warned of the rise of extremism within the ranks of the military.
The document, first tweeted out by Military analyst B.A. Friedman, did not specify when the order to remove Confederate flags and other related paraphernalia would be put into place, however.
“Ridding military installations of Confederate materials is long overdue,” Richard Kohn, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Military.com.
“We have the need within the country to try and create as much unity as possible and to suppress white nationalism and racism within the ranks of the military…” Kohn added.
Last week Berger sent the directive to his senior staff “to be reviewed or addressed by Headquarters Marine Corps staff,” Flanagan told Task and Purpose. “Any official policy decisions, changes or implementation plans will be published via appropriate orders and messages.”
The U.S. military has come under criticism in recent years for installations and warships named after Confederate leaders and battle victories. Marine Corps Times reports that though the Corps has no installations named in recognition of the Confederacy, the Army has 10 installations named after Confederate leaders and the Navy has had several ships named in honor of the Confederacy, including the still active guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville.
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More: How the United Daughters of the Confederacy championed the Lost Cause narrative.
Civil War Times advisory board weighs in on the monuments controversy.