Fort Bragg is back: Army renames NC base to honor WWII hero
With cannon fire and a rendition of "The Caisson Song," Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was officially rededicated to its original name, now honoring a World War II hero instead of an Army officer from the Mexican-American War who later became a Confederate general.
Under the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Army held a ceremony at the 260,000-person-strong base outside Fayetteville on Friday to reverse Democrats' change to "Fort Liberty" – and to honor a Mainer whose bravery in Bastogne saved the lives of his fellow U.S. service members.
The descendants of PFC Roland L. Bragg – who died in 1999 – were on hand as Lt. Gen. Gregory Anderson offered remarks on the late veteran's service and ushered in the renaming. It had previously been named after CSA Gen. Braxton Bragg.
"Today we gather on an installation that is the largest in our Army per capita, covering 164,000 acres, supporting over 48,000 soldiers, 80,000 family members, 2000 Department of Defense civilians, and nearly 100,000 retirees and their families," said Anderson, commanding officer of the 18th Airborne Corps at the base.
"Fort Bragg is just not any base. It is our nation's premier force projection platform. It is a culture of toughness and warfighting, and it is a way of life. We refer to Fort Bragg as the center of the universe, the beating heart of our Army's ability to deploy, without warning, anywhere across the globe, to help and assist others to respond to crises, to deter conflict and, if necessary, to fight and win our nation's wars," he continued.
Roland Bragg's granddaughter also offered remarks, speaking about how her grandfather never publicized his military service and was a quiet, loving patriarch of his family.
She told one story about his enjoyment of grilling pancakes for his grandchildren in whatever shape the children wanted, no matter how complex.
Bragg had been taken prisoner by the Germans in 1943, and – as Anderson retold – somehow convinced a Nazi officer to let him and fellow prisoners go, as both men were Freemasons. Under the condition that a Nazi sergeant be knocked out – so as to provide a sign of a struggle – Bragg happily obliged, and he and his men were set free.
Bragg then commandeered a Nazi ambulance and drove it through fierce fire toward and through American lines, later thinking all the other wounded paratroopers had been killed in the crossfire.
It was not until he received a letter from a California veteran decades later that he found out some had survived the day.
For about four years, Fort Bragg had been "Fort Liberty" – one of several bases, mostly in the South, that Democrats renamed to remove Confederate vestiges.
In a successful veto override of then-President Donald Trump, the 2021 National Defense Authorization Bill, sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., included a provision creating a commission that ultimately stripped Braxton Bragg's name from the North Carolina base.
Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., who represents the base and that piece of the US-421 corridor, previously expressed support for Braxton Bragg's name being removed – though underlined the decision and result should have been made by the Cumberland County community.
"I recognize the name Fort Bragg has meaning that transcends Braxton Bragg," he wrote in a 2021 Fayetteville Observer column. "This is a very tough issue for many in our community and I appreciate that there is a lot of passion on both sides.
On Friday, Hudson told Fox News Digital exclusively that the change to honor Roland Bragg "honors these brave soldiers" who have passed through its gates "as well as their families."
"When leaders around the world hear the name Fort Bragg, they know it represents the men and women of our Airborne and Special Forces stationed there. These are some of the most dynamic, capable, and elite troops in our military. When President Trump needs a rapid military response, he calls Fort Bragg," Hudson said.
Fort Moore, Georgia, near the Chattahoochee River's Alabama border, is the next base primed to be redesignated in a similarly creative way to Fort Bragg.
Long known as Fort Benning – after Gen. Henry Benning of Appling, Georgia – Hegseth's Pentagon is primed to rename it Fort Benning albeit after a World War I recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross of the same surname.
Other 2021 changes included Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia – named for a close friend of Gen. Stonewall Jackson, who hailed from nearby Culpeper and had been killed by a Pennsylvania officer during the Third Battle of Petersburg as the Confederacy began to collapse.
Fort Lee in Petersburg, Virginia, is now Fort Gregg-Adams. Fort Hood, Texas, is now Fort Cavazos. Fort Rucker, Alabama, is now Fort Novosel. Fort Pickett in Nottoway, Virginia, is now Fort Barfolk. It remains to be seen if the Pentagon will seek to rename the remaining redesignated installations.
As for Hegseth's stated view on base name changes, he hinted to The Associated Press that more changes are coming at the behest of Trump and the administration.
"I never called it Fort Liberty because it wasn't Fort Liberty. It's Fort Bragg," he said.
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