Fort Pickett may be renamed for this war hero who lived in Henrico

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A late Henrico veteran may soon be honored with his name on a Virginia Army post.

An independent commission on Tuesday recommended new names for nine Army posts that commemorated Confederate officers.

The commission suggested Fort Pickett, in Nottoway County, Virginia, be renamed Fort Barfoot after Tech. Sgt. Van T. Barfoot.

Barfoot was a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions in World War II during a battle near Carano, Italy.

Steve Helber/AP

“He knew that people looked at him, having been a Medal of Honor recipient, as being a war hero,” his son Tom Barfoot said in a 2012 interview with CBS 6 following his dad’s death at age 92. “But he never saw himself as being a hero. Dad’s legacy, to me, was family. He was all about his God, his family, and his country, in that order.”

Barfoot made headlines three years before his death when he fought a battle with his Sussex Square Homeowners’ Association in Henrico after the HOA wanted him to take down his flagpole.

The HOA only allowed angled flag poles to be mounted on homes. Barfoot said that was a dishonor to the flag and insisted on raising and lowering his flag on a free-standing pole in his yard.

The HOA eventually backed down.

After a very public battle, one that included a vote of support from the White House, the neighborhood association backed down and allowed the flagpole to stay.

“He was a strong-willed person, but he was a super-compassionate person,” his son said.

The flag battle led to a new law in 2010 giving homeowners a little more leeway in terms of displaying the flag.

His son said it wasn’t about Col. Barfoot’s right to fly the flag – it was about the flag in general.

Col. Barfoot was a selfless man, Tom Barfoot said.

“It was always about somebody else. It wasn’t about him. I’m proud to have him as my dad.”

Following Barfoot’s death in 2012, then-Governor Bob McDonnell (R – Virginia) issued the following statement:

“In 1944, four years after he enlisted in the United States Army, Sergeant Barfoot led a squad in the invasion of Sicily.  On May 23, at his request, he led his squad through German minefields to get to enemy positions on the German flank, with minimal casualties.  That day, Sergeant Barfoot destroyed two German machine gun nests, killed four German soldiers, took 17 prisoners and later repelled a counter-attack, disabling a German tank using a Bazooka rocket launcher and assisting in moving two of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a safe position. When he received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, on September 28, 1944, Lieutenant Barfoot received it in the field because he felt it was important not to leave his men. Throughout his long and exemplary career in the military, and after retiring in 1974, Colonel Barfoot was a true leader, putting others before himself and giving generously of his time and talents to his country and to his Commonwealth.  It is with great sadness that we recognize the loss of a patriot and a hero, Colonel Van T. Barfoot.”