Lindsey Graham Receives Major Honor
The Pentagon is moving to rename Joint Base Charleston in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, recognizing the longtime South Carolina Republican and Air Force veteran for decades of military and public service.
According to an internal memo first obtained by The Post and Courier, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink directed officials on July 27 to begin the process of renaming the installation “Joint Base Lindsey Graham.”
Meink instructed Air Mobility Command and Joint Base Charleston leadership to take “all necessary and appropriate actions” to carry out the change.
The memo praises Lindsey Graham for his “decades of distinguished service to the United States Congress and the United States Air Force.”
“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,” Meink wrote. “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.”
Lindsey Graham spent years fighting for the Charleston-area base, which was created during a broader Defense Department reorganization that combined several North Charleston military facilities into Joint Base Charleston in 2010.
Throughout his time in Congress, he helped steer hundreds of millions of federal dollars to support operations at the installation. He also played a key role in efforts to bring Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner production to South Carolina, helping convince the aerospace giant to expand beyond its longtime unionized operations in Washington state.
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Just months before his death, Lindsey Graham secured another major funding win for the base.
In May, he announced $212 million to strengthen Coast Guard readiness at Joint Base Charleston. The funding will improve pier infrastructure and build new medical and dental facilities.
“It is imperative this base has the necessary tools to protect South Carolina’s coastline and prevent deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, from reaching our shores,” Graham said at the time.
Long before entering Congress, Lindsey Graham built a lengthy military career.
After graduating from law school, Graham served for 33 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard. His first six years were on active duty during the 1980s, including four years as lead prosecutor for the Air Force’s felony case division at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany.
He transferred to the South Carolina Air National Guard in 1989, serving as a military attorney at McEntire Air National Guard Base during the Gulf War.
While serving in Congress, Lindsey Graham deployed twice to the Middle East, earning praise from retired Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded U.S. forces in the region.
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“I am not aware of any other current Member of Congress who, while in office, spent remotely as much time deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Petraeus said after Graham’s 2015 retirement from military service.
Earlier in his military career, Graham also gained national attention for exposing problems with the Air Force’s drug-testing procedures. His efforts were featured on “60 Minutes” and were later credited with helping clear the names of service members who had been falsely implicated.
Friends and former colleagues remembered Lindsey Graham as both a dedicated public servant and a loyal friend after he died July 11 from an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
“To me, he was much more than a public figure,” Jack Rives, a former Air Force attorney who served alongside Graham, wrote in a tribute after his death. “He was a valued colleague, a trusted friend, and a man I was honored to know.”
Joint Base Charleston is home to more than 50 Department of Defense and federal agencies and is best known as the home of the nation’s largest fleet of C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
Its primary flying units are the active-duty 437th Airlift Wing and the Air Force Reserve’s 315th Airlift Wing.
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