Fort Bragg drops Confederate name to become Fort Liberty
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Fort Bragg, one of the largest military bases in the United States, has officially been renamed Fort Liberty, following a ceremony Friday. The North Carolina post’s new name is part of a congressionally mandated plan to rename military bases, ships and streets that previously honored Confederate leaders. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The plan is the culmination of a years-long effort that intensified in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and the reckoning it brought over the nation’s history of racism. A panel established by Congress recommended the Army rename nine installations that honored Confederate military officers.
“Welcome to Fort Liberty, the center of the universe,” Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps and the newly christened Fort Liberty, said during the ceremony Friday. “We were given a mission to re-designate our installation, no small task with its history. We seized this opportunity to make ourselves better and to seek excellence. That is what we always have done and always will do.”
The other eight Army bases selected to be renamed are Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia; Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia; Fort Polk in Louisiana; Fort Rucker in Alabama; and Fort Hood in Texas.
The nine Army posts were all built during the first half of the 20th century in former Confederate states. Fort Bragg had been named in honor of Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general who was relieved of command after losing the battle for Chattanooga in 1863, though he remained active in the rebel cause, serving as an adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
The new names for Fort Bragg and the other eight installations were finalized in September. The recommendations were accepted by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that same month. And in January, William A. La Plante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, ordered all Department of Defense organizations to start implementing the initiative. “So long, Fort Bragg. Hello, Fort Liberty,” read the beginning of the DOD’s news release announcing the change.
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The initiative hasn’t always been smooth. The process was at times plagued by controversies on Capitol Hill, with some Republican lawmakers, and former president Donald Trump, opposing it. During his time in office, Trump said changing the names ignored the history of the military sites and dishonored the troops serving there. The Senate passed a provision in the 2021 defense bill mandating a naming commission by a veto-proof majority, negating Trump’s threats to reject the legislation.
Fort Bragg, home to the famed 82nd Airborne Division and Army Special Operations Command, is one of the more prominent installations getting a new name. It’s also the only base to be named after a value instead of a person, which sparked some controversy when all the names were unveiled. Other Army bases were renamed in honor of heroic figures or leaders with powerful legacies.
Although the names of prominent military figures were considered by a committee tasked with selecting Fort Bragg’s new title, Donahue said Friday, the committee had a tough time selecting just one name among so many respected individuals.
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“Every name was considered [and] debated,” Donahue said. “Ultimately, any of them could have been chosen. A consensus could not be reached on just one. How could you choose any and leave any of those others behind? How could you actually leave behind those who will come? There were no names that could define what this post is all about.”
Donahue recalled Patti Elliott, whose 21-year-old son died in Iraq in 2011, speaking to the naming commission during their visit to Fort Bragg. Donahue said Elliott urged attendees to “think bigger” and “be better.”
“She said, ‘My son died for liberty,’” Donahue recounted, which he added is the country’s most essential value.
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Source: The Washington Post
