The U.S. Air Force will rename Joint Base Charleston, the largest Air Force-run base in South Carolina, after the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham, who passed away on July 11 from an aortic dissection, served for 33 years in the U.S. Air Force, including multiple years of active duty service to the branch as an Air Force lawyer both stateside and overseas. Charleston’s military base will soon be named after the Air Force veteran and Palmetto State titan of the U.S. Senate, the Post and Courier first reported.
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“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,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink wrote in a July 27 letter shared with the outlet.
Meink ordered Air Force staff and Joint Base Charleston to take “all necessary and appropriate actions” to begin transitioning the facility’s name to Joint Base Lindsey Graham, according to the outlet.
“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,” Meink wrote of Graham.
Graham began his service in the military in the early 1980s as an Air Force lawyer with over six years of active duty service that included an overseas deployment to Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Germany. He then joined the South Carolina Air National Guard and was called into active duty again in the early 1990s to serve as state-side Staff Judge Advocate to prepare Air Force members for overseas deployment to the Gulf War.
Graham then joined the U.S. Air Force Reserves for several years before retiring in 2015 with the rank of colonel. Throughout his career in Congress, Graham consistently advocated for increasing national defense spending and bolstering the Pentagon budget.
The Air Force Secretary’s letter was dated on the eve of Graham’s funeral services in Washington, D.C., which included a tribute on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning and a funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral set for 2 p.m. Tuesday.
President Donald Trump is expected to speak at the service, which will draw a crowd of world leaders, the biggest names on Capitol Hill, and many more mourners of the late senator.
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Graham’s South Carolina funeral service will be held on Wednesday.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Air Force for comment.
