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Fort Polk, now named Fort Johnson, is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles east of Leesville and 30 miles north of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish.
Fort Polk was named in honor of Louisiana native son, Leonidas Polk. Polk was a prominent Episcopal bishop, and corps commander in the Confederate Army.
The fort is now named after New York soldier William Henry Johnson. It encompasses about 198,000 acres. Some 100,000 acres are owned by the Department of the Army and 98,125 acres by the U.S. Forest Service, mostly in the Kisatchie National Forest. In 2013, there were 10,877 troops stationed at Fort Johnson, which generated an annual payroll of $980 million. Louisiana officials lobbied the Army and the United States Congress to keep troop strength at full capacity despite looming defense cuts.
Fort Johnson began as a base for the Louisiana Maneuvers in the 1940s. It served the 1st Armored Division in the 1950s, and became a basic training post during Vietnam War years of the 1960s and '70s. It hosted the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in the 1970s-1980s, and the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in the 1990s and the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, and the 162nd Infantry Brigade in the 2000s. Fort Johnson is now home to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, 115th Combat Support Hospital, U.S. Army Garrison and Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital.
The land that is now Fort Johnson is part of a region of cultural resources, including archaeological sites, historic houses and structures, and other sites of historical value. The U.S. Army has spent considerable time, effort, and money to find and inventory thousands of archaeological sites on Fort Johnson and the property owned by the U.S. Forest Service where the Army trains.
Fort Polk became Fort Johnson during a re-designation ceremony on June 13, 2023 in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson, a World War I Medal of Honor recipient from North Carolina who served in the 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment.