Latest news with #BraxtonBragg
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fort Bragg name changed back from Fort Liberty
The Brief The North Carolina Army installation is officially known as Fort Bragg again, after being Fort Liberty since 2023. The name change is in honor of a World War II paratrooper and Silver Star recipient from Maine, Pfc. Roland L. Bragg. It was officially named in honor of Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. The North Carolina Army installation, one of the largest military installations in the world, is officially named Fort Bragg again. It had been known as Fort Liberty since the summer of 2023. Here's what was behind the multiple name changes: Timeline The back-and-forth of the North Carolina military site dates back a few years. 1918: The base takes its Fort Bragg name for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. June 2023: Fort Bragg shed its namesake and became known as Fort Liberty amid a drive to remove symbols of the Confederacy from public spaces. Feb. 2025: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an order to revert the name change, honoring a new namesake: Army Pfc. Roland L. Bragg. What they're saying Hegseth says the rededication honors an American hero and restores a name that soldiers knew and revered for over a century. By the numbers The Army said in 2023 that changing the name to Fort Liberty would cost $8 million. North Carolina's Department of Transportation said last month that it anticipated replacing dozens of road signs at a cost of over $200,000. The backstory The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy's downfall. Big picture view Several military bases were named after Confederate soldiers during World War I and World War II as part of a "demonstration of reconciliation" with white southerners amid a broader effort to rally the nation to fight as one, Nina Silber, a historian at Boston University, previously explained to The Associated Press. RELATED: Pentagon orders removal of 26,000+ military images under Trump's DEI ban Dig deeper Bragg was a World War II paratrooper and Silver Star recipient from Maine. Before his deployment, he trained at the North Carolina post, his family said during Friday's renaming ceremony. Bragg, who served with the 17th Airborne Division, received the Silver Star and a Purple Heart for exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge. He was captured by Germans and commandeered an ambulance back to safety with a few wounded paratroopers, one of which survived, Lt. Gen. Greg Anderson said during the ceremony. RELATED: Fort Liberty reverts to Fort Bragg—but with a new namesake What they're saying The Liberty-to-Bragg reversion was made without first consulting with Roland Bragg's family, but his daughter was delighted by it. His granddaughter described him as a "strong, hardworking and proud" man who didn't discuss his military service in World War II very openly. What's next Hegseth announced this week that Georgia's Fort Moore would revert back to Fort Benning. Originally named for Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning, it will now honor Cpl. Fred G. Benning, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross who served in France during World War I. The Source Information in this article was taken from remarks during the renaming ceremony on March, 7, 2025, as covered by The Associated Press. Background information was taken from an order signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in February, and previous FOX Television Station and Associated Press reportings. This story was reported from Detroit.
Fox News
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
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.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pete Hegseth Just Did the Funniest Thing Imaginable
This essay was adapted from Kevin M. Levin's newsletter, Civil War Memory. Subscribe here. On Monday night, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum renaming Fort Liberty, in North Carolina, back to Fort Bragg. This comes after a congressional committee recommended in 2021 that the fort, named for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, be changed to Liberty, as part of a wider effort to eliminate military honors bestowed on individuals who rebelled against the United States during the Civil War. Donald Trump campaigned in part on a promise to restore the name of Fort Bragg. Mission accomplished. Members of the Confederate heritage community placed their faith in Trump to restore the honor and respect that they believe should be accorded their ancestors. On hearing the announcement, the Virginia Flaggers, a group organized in 2011 to combat calls to remove Confederate symbols from public spaces, celebrated by posting a video of Hegseth signing the memorandum. But as you can see from the first comment here, not everyone is happy about it. Other commenters chimed in as well: 'It's not Ft Bragg, as in General Braxton Bragg. He's playing fast and loose with the truth!' 'It's not the same. It was named for a WW2 PFC because he had the same last name as General Bragg.' 'Instead of renaming it after Confederate general Braxton Bragg it is renamed in honor of private Ronald Bragg, a WWII private. Quite the sleight of hand and an insult to the memories of the Confederate American veterans and all of the ancestors who fought and served in every war this country has ever been involved in.' Others suggested that this was an acceptable compromise, given that Congress has banned the naming of federal military installations after Confederate leaders. In contrast, one camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is describing the renaming as a 'political bait and switch.' And yet another wrote: The fort will be renamed to honor Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. This namesake, I believe, is an improvement over the former Bragg, who is remembered for his poor temper and combative personality, and who briefly commanded the Army of Tennessee to partial victories at Perryville, Stones River, and Chickamauga before resigning in November 1863. To be honest, I can't stop laughing. Those in the Confederate heritage community got played. They placed their faith in a corrupt Northern businessman—the very thing their antebellum Southern ancestors feared. They should have seen this coming. The Lost Cause, a pro-Confederate narrative that frames the war as a defense of states' rights, 'loyal slaves,' and heroic Christian warriors, occupied a central place in the nation's collective memory for much of the 20th century. The display of Confederate symbols in prominent public spaces remained largely unchallenged by both Democrats and Republicans as recently as the 1990s. In recent years, Democrats, as a result of their embrace of a more progressive agenda, have led the fight calling for the removal of symbols celebrating the Confederacy in public spaces, but even Republicans have gradually begun to distance themselves from the practice. In 2010 Virginia Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell signed a proclamation declaring April 'Confederate Heritage and History Month.' Protests ensued over the proclamation's failure to acknowledge slavery as central to the war and the Confederacy, as well as its strong Lost Cause overtones. In addition to issuing an apology, McDonnell promised to sign a new proclamation the following year, which he did, declaring April 'Civil War History in Virginia Month.' The proclamation recognized slavery as an 'inhumane practice' and the Emancipation Proclamation as having 'ended its evil stain on American democracy.' In 2015, just weeks after the horrific murder of nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white supremacist, the state's Republican governor, Nikki Haley, called for the removal of a Confederate battle flag that had flown on the Statehouse grounds since 1962. Haley had previously embraced the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who viewed the flag as a symbol of 'heritage' and not as a symbol of racism. She had bent over backward to reassure its members that their flag would not be removed, but in the wake of the murders and the publication of photographs of Dylann Roof posing with a Confederate flag, Haley and much of the Republican state Legislature voted to remove the flag once and for all. Despite speaking out on occasion praising generals like Robert E. Lee and calling for laws to protect Confederate monuments during his first term, Trump did little in his capacity as president to turn the tide, and there is little reason to think he will do so during his second term. For example, the memorandum that Hegseth signed failed to mention a single word about the man the fort was first intended to honor. There are eight other military bases, whose names once honored Confederate leaders like Gens. Lee, George Pickett, and John Brown Gordon, that could be restored in defiance of Congress. That, however, will be more controversial, as they (unlike 'Fort Liberty') were renamed after U.S. military heroes. Anything is possible, though it will be difficult to find appropriate substitutes for some of these names. While I don't want to see Fort Gregg-Adams, the base in Virginia that once honored Lee and now honors Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams, changed back to 'Fort Lee,' I can only imagine how the SCV and others would respond to a re-renaming after any Lee other than their holy Confederate chieftain. For now, it is enough to watch the Confederate heritage community get trolled by the very people it hoped would turn the tide and restore Confederate symbols to their rightful place. This clearly isn't going to happen. It is yet another nail in the Lost Cause coffin.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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: 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 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 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.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fort Liberty to be changed back to Fort Bragg
(WGHP) — Fort Liberty will be changed back to Fort Bragg, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He signed a memorandum that reversed the name with a historical twist. The Army base located in North Carolina is one of the world's largest military installations and was renamed in June 2023. It carried the name Fort Bragg since 1922. The base was originally named in honor of Confederate General Braxton Bragg. The name Bragg will now pay tribute to Private First Class Roland L. Bragg. He was a World War II hero who earned a Purple Heart for his service in the 17th Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge. There is no word yet on how much the renaming will cost or how it will be paid for. The North Carolina Department of Transportation spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to change highway signs and road signs two years ago. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
