Who is the new ‘Bragg' that the North Carolina base will now be named after?
Bringing Bragg back.
Amid the Republican's anti-DEI push, new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that one of the country's largest military bases will get its old name back - but honor a different person. Fort Bragg in North Carolina was renamed Fort Liberty under President Joe Biden as the country pushed to eliminate ties between the current military and the confederacy.
The North Carolina base was named after Confederate general Braxton Bragg before it became Liberty. Now, it will go back to being Bragg - but this time for Private First Class Roland L. Bragg, an Army soldier who was awarded a Silver Star and the Purple Heart for combat during WWII.
'Bragg is back!' Hegseth wrote in an announcement online.
Here's what we know about the soldier Fort Bragg is now being named after:
Who is Roland L. Bragg?
Bragg was an Army soldier who fought in Europe during World War II, including in the Battle of the Bulge, for which he was awarded a Purple Heart, according to the Department of Defense.
Born in Sabatus, Maine, on June 11, 1923, Bragg's parents were Calvin Leroy Bragg and Ella Stevenson, according to ancestry records. He was assigned to the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Divison and stationed at Fort Bragg.
Upon returning from war, Bragg moved to Nobleboro, Maine
Bragg was married to Barbara Picinich and the two had at least two daughters, Linda and Debra, according to newspaper records.
Bragg died on January 12, 1999, in Nobleboro. He is buried at Dunbar Cemetery
What did Roland L. Bragg do?
The Department of Defense said he received a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his service. Bragg 'fought with distinction in the European theater of operations,' the statement from the department says.
Bragg is credited with stealing a German ambulance to drive a wounded soldier to the hospital and saving his life, according to WeAreTheMighty.com.
Why is Fort Liberty's name being changed?
One of President Donald Trump's campaign promises was to restore the names of bases that were renamed, in part, to revoke honors associated with Confederate generals.
Congress passed a law in 2020 that called for a commission to rename bases. It was partially inspired by the nationwide racial reckoning movement that was sparked after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Fort Liberty was previously named after Braxton Bragg, a slave owner and Confederate army general who famously lost many battles during the Civil War.
Republicans had long criticized the movement to remove names associated with Confederate leaders believing it was erasing history. From the moment Hegseth took office, it was clear he did not plan to keep Fort Liberty's name intact. He referred to the base as 'Fort Bragg' on his first day in office.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
House passes Republican-led bills to repeal D.C. laws on noncitizen voting and policing
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House is poised to pass a trio of bills this week to repeal Washington, D.C., laws on immigration, voting and policing, even as it has yet to restore a painful a $1 billion cut to the city's budget. The House passed two of the bills on Tuesday. One would bar noncitizens from voting in local elections in the nation's capital, overturning a D.C. law that was passed in 2022. The other would restore collective bargaining rights and a statute of limitations for D.C. police officers involved in disciplinary cases. Then, on Thursday, the House is expected to pass a third bill, the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act, which would require the D.C. government to comply with requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security to share information and detain undocumented immigrants. Under current D.C. law, local authorities do not work with federal immigration officials unless they have a judicial warrant. All together, the bills represent House Republicans' attempt to assert authority over deep-blue D.C. at a time when the GOP has unified control of the federal government. ' Home rule ' — where the D.C. mayor and city council make their own laws but Congress has the ability to review them — has long been a point of contention. Democrats have pushed in recent years to grant full statehood to D.C., while Republicans have slammed decisions made by local leaders and sought to reverse them. 'D.C.'s City Council made radical decisions in our nation's capital under the Biden-Harris administration, passing local laws that are woefully inconsistent with national standards or constitutional principles,' Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee who authored the GOP voting bill, said in a statement to NBC News. 'I'm proud that the House is taking action to overturn several of these reckless measures — including my legislation to prohibit noncitizens from voting in local D.C. elections,' he said. At the same time, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Republican leaders have been dragging their feet on a legislative fix for D.C.'s budget. A government funding bill that Congress passed in March to avert a shutdown included a provision requiring the city to revert back to fiscal year 2024 funding levels, leaving it with a $1.1 billion shortfall. The move was quickly met with opposition from local D.C. leaders. The Senate voted by unanimous consent in March to undo it and restore D.C.'s authority to use local tax dollars as its leaders see fit. President Donald Trump endorsed the fix, calling on the House to 'immediately' pass that bill in a social media post on March 28. But months later, Johnson still hasn't held a vote on the bill, prompting criticism from Democrats and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. 'It's absurd that the House hasn't taken it up. It's absolutely irresponsible, unfair and beneath the credibility of leadership,' said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who represents a congressional district just D.C. 'It's not our money, it's D.C.'s money ... and I don't know why the speaker hasn't put the Senate bill on the floor. It'll pass overwhelmingly.' 'This is a particular egregious example of substituting their judgment for those who are locally elected to govern the District of Columbia,' Hoyer said. Last month, Johnson told reporters he was in communication with Bowser and that the House would take up the funding fix 'as quickly as possible.' The speaker said that passing Trump's massive domestic policy package had taken up 'all of our energy' and insisted the delay was not for a 'political purpose.' 'We're working on it right now. It's not like we've closed the door to that,' House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told NBC News on Tuesday. 'But obviously there are other problems we're trying to resolve along the way.' Bowser's office denounced the GOP bills to revoke DC law and — while noting that D.C. has mitigated the most 'catastrophic' impacts of the budget restrictions — urged Congress to pass the funding fix. 'Mayor Bowser continues to oppose all congressional interference in the lives and affairs of Washingtonians. DC will continue to fight to protect our home rule and self-determination,' a Bowser spokesperson said in an email. 'If Congress wants to be helpful, they should pass the District of Columbia Local Funds Act to fix their damage to DC's FY25 budget.' Johnson's office had no comment when asked Tuesday when — or whether — he still plans to hold a vote on the funding fix. Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., the No. 4 in Republican leadership, said, 'I honestly don't know. I haven't heard yes or no,' when asked if the funding fix will come up for a vote. Other congressional Democrats said Republicans should stay out of D.C. issues. 'It's bad enough, usually, when they're playing in D.C. local, home rule issues,' said Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., whose district abuts Washington. 'But then to do it at a time when they haven't returned the $1.1 billion is especially egregious.' Immigration has dominated the national political debate this week, with protests erupting in Los Angeles in response to the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts. Republicans said the fight over immigration is a winning issue for the party, and they've continued to lean into it with the legislation on the floor this week. 'If D.C. wants illegals to vote, we've made it clear at the federal level people here illegally should not vote in any elections,' Scalise said. 'We're still the most generous nation in the world in terms of our legal immigration system,' he continued, 'but we have to fix our broken immigration system. And you could just see what's going on in L.A. to prove the point.'
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Trump mobilizes Marines to ‘protect' and ‘transport' ICE agents in Los Angeles
Anti-ICE protests continue in Los Angeles as the Trump administration mobilizes hundreds of Marines and National Guard members. NBC News Correspondents David Noriega, Vaughn Hillyard and Courtney Kube report on the Trump administration's handling of the 10, 2025
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Police attacked with fireworks on second night of violence in Northern Ireland
Police were attacked with fireworks during a second night of anti-migrant riots in Northern Ireland following the attempted rape of a teenage girl. Crowds of masked rioters launched fireworks at riot police in Ballymena, County Antrim, on Tuesday night. The disorder came a day after two 14-year-old boys, thought to be Romanian, appeared in court charged with the attempted rape of a girl. Fireworks and other projectiles were launched at police officers and their armoured land rovers as about 300 people gathered in the vicinity of Clonavon Terrace, in the town centre. A large fire was started by rioters shortly after 9pm in the middle of North Road, an A-road which overlooks the area. A water cannon and rubber bullets have been used against the rioters to contain the 'serious disorder'. The unrest has been condemned as 'racist thuggery' by police. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said the violence was 'clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police'. A 29-year-old man has been charged with riotous behaviour following the disorder and will appear before Ballymena magistrates' court on Thursday. The victim's family condemned the riots, which were reminiscent of the disorder in England and Northern Ireland after the murder of three girls at a dance class in Southport last year. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said 'there is no justification for attacks on police officers while they continue to protect local communities'. Jim Allister, the North Antrim MP, said Ballymena had been 'overburdened' by 'unchecked migration', which was a source of 'past and future tensions'. On Monday, masked rioters threw petrol bombs, masonry, fireworks, and bricks at police after splitting from a peaceful vigil and setting up barricades in the Clonavon Terrace area of the town. Several officers needed hospital treatment and two police vehicles were damaged. Along Clonavon Terrace, six houses had their windows smashed, with two of them taped off after suffering significant fire damage. Those attacks are being treated as racially motivated hate crimes. In one video, one woman was recorded saying: 'If they are not local, let them f---ing stay there.'
