U.S. removing Confederate memorial from Arlington Cemetery

The U.S. Army was on Wednesday working to remove a controversial Confederate memorial in Arlington National Cemetery as part of efforts to change names and take down monuments that honor the pro-slavery breakaway southern states.

A court had temporarily halted removal of the memorial from the cemetery -- the hallowed final resting place of some 400,000 veterans and their dependents -- but later allowed it to proceed.

"In accordance with the recent court ruling, the Army has resumed the deliberate process of removing the Confederate Memorial from Arlington National Cemetery immediately," a statement on Arlington's website said.

"While the work is performed, surrounding graves, headstones and the landscape will be carefully protected by a dedicated team," it added.

Nationwide protests against racism and police brutality that were sparked by the 2020 murder of George Floyd reignited calls for the removal of statues honoring the Confederacy -- which was defeated in the 1861-1865 US Civil War.

Advocates also called for the renaming of military installations named for figures from the secessionist South.

The 2021 defense budget required the establishment of a commission to plan for the removal of Confederate-linked "names, symbols, displays, monuments, or paraphernalia" from Defense Department property, and gave the secretary three years to carry out its recommendations.

In its final report, the commission said the memorial in Arlington "offers a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery."

It recommended the statue atop the memorial be removed and its bronze components deconstructed, while leaving its base and foundation in place "to minimize risk of inadvertent disturbance of graves."

Plaintiffs -- described in a court document as "a series of organizations and individuals concerned with preserving Confederate monuments and 'Southern-American heritage'" -- sought to block the removal of the monument, arguing that inadequate steps were being taken to protect nearby gravesites.

They were granted a temporary restraining order stopping the work on Monday, but that order was vacated the following day, permitting the removal work to resume.

The process of renaming nine US bases that honored figures from the Confederacy was completed in late October, when an installation dropped a Confederate general's name for that of former president and famed World War II commander Dwight D. Eisenhower.