The Pentagon on Monday renamed Joint Base Charleston in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime South Carolina resident and former Air Force officer.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a South Carolina resident; and Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill the remainder of her brother’s term, were among those attending Monday’s renaming ceremony.
“Lindsey was one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known, and his sister shares his deep love of country and the state of South Carolina,” President Trump posted on Truth Social.
Ms. Graham said it was sometimes hard to tell whether her brother was a senator who happened to serve in the Air Force or an Air Force lawyer who happened to serve in the Senate.
“Such was his love for both,” she said Monday. “That’s the man this base is named after — a man who loved his country, loved his state, and loved the United States Air Force.”
Mr. Hegseth said the Pentagon is seeking a “historic and generational” investment of $1.5 trillion in the military. He said Graham told him it was the “best military budget” he had seen since he had been in Congress.
“This department pays tribute to Lindsey Graham in the naming of this base, but there could be no greater tribute than for Congress to invest in our warriors with the full $1.5 trillion,” the defense secretary said. “It now falls on us to continue Senator Graham’s work of building up our military.”
Graham died suddenly on July 11 after a brief illness. He was 71.
The newly named Joint Base Lindsey Graham was formed in 2010 with the merger of Charleston Air Force Base and Naval Weapons Station Charleston. It covers nearly 24,000 acres and employs more than 20,000 military and civilian personnel.
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