Belvoir Hospital Renaming and Memorialization Ceremony
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Date: 5/16/2023
On May 16th, at 2:00 p.m., the Defense Health Agency (DHA) will conduct a renaming and dedication ceremony of Fort Belvoir Community Hospital (FBCH). The community hospital will bear the name of Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center (ATAMMC) to honor Lt. Col. (Dr.) Alexander Thomas Augusta, the highest-ranking black officer in the Union Army, the first black professor of medicine at Howard University in Washington D.C. and the first black officer to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dr. Augusta was born in Virginia in 1825, studied medicine, and was the first African American to be commissioned as a medical officer in the Union Army -- advancing to become the highest ranking African American officer in the Union Army. After a distinguished military career, Dr. Augusta served as the head of the Lincoln Hospital in Savannah, Georgia. Later he taught anatomy at Howard University as the first African American faculty appointed to any medical college in the United States. Dr. Augusta fought against racial injustice throughout his life, including the desegregation of train cars in Washington D.C., the inequality of pay for African American soldiers, and speaking out on many of the other racial injustices of the day. After Dr. Augusta passed away in 1890, he became the first African American commissioned officer to be buried in the Arlington National Cemetery (Section 1, Grave 124-C).
The renaming of the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital has been an ongoing effort for several years and is not associated with any Naming Commission recommendations or indicative of any future name change to Fort Belvoir.
The newly named Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center is a joint-service facility that is part of the National Capital Region Medical Service Market’s integrated network of care. These facilities provide world-class medical healthcare to the nations wounded, active-duty Service Members, retirees, and family members. The A.T. Augusta Military Medical Center will continue to deliver safe, quality, and compassionate care through a culture of excellence and patient-and-family-centered care.
More detailed information is also available on the Belvoir Hospital Facebook page: facebook.com/belvoirhospital.