Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum on Monday to rename Fort Liberty in North Carolina to Fort Bragg.
“That’s proper. Bragg is again,” Hegseth mentioned in a video posted on X after signing the memo onboard a army transport plane sure for Germany.
The brand new identify, nonetheless, doesn’t honor the Accomplice common the Military base was beforehand named after.
“The brand new identify pays tribute to Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World Warfare II hero who earned the Silver Star and Purple Coronary heart for his distinctive braveness in the course of the Battle of the Bulge,” Division of Protection press secretary John Ullyot mentioned in a press release.
“This alteration underscores the set up’s legacy of recognizing those that have demonstrated extraordinary service and sacrifice for the nation,” he added.
The North Carolina base was initially named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Accomplice common from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was identified for proudly owning slaves and shedding key Civil Warfare battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall.
It was considered one of a number of army bases that had been named after Accomplice figures throughout World Warfare I and World Warfare II as a part of an effort by the federal authorities to show “reconciliation” with southern whites, in accordance with Boston College historian Nina Silber.
The bottom took on the identify Fort Liberty in June 2023 as a part of a Biden administration Pentagon initiative – motivated by the 2020 George Floyd protests – to rename army installations that had been named after Accomplice troopers.
The North Carolina army set up was the one base renamed utilizing a moniker that didn’t honor an individual.
The associated fee to rename Fort Bragg — one of many largest army installations on this planet by inhabitants — was about $8 million.
President Trump had vowed on the 2024 marketing campaign path to rename Fort Liberty again to Fort Bragg, if elected.
“We did win two world wars from Fort Bragg, proper?” Trump mentioned at an October rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
“We’re gonna get it again. We’re gonna carry our nation again,” he pledged.
The bottom is residence to the Military’s 82nd Airborne Division and serves because the headquarters for the Military’s Particular Operations Command.
Hegseth’s memo directed the Military to current the underneath secretary of protection for acquisition and sustainment with a timeline to implement the identify change and a listing of any further assets which may be wanted.
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