Hegeth signs order to recover Fort Bragg Name – but with a new angle

Defense Secretary Pete Hegeth signed an order on Monday that restored the name of a stored special operation forces base back to Fort Bragg. The base in the North Carolina was Renamed Fort Liberty In 2023 as part of a national effort under the Biden administration to remove names that honored confederate leaders.

The base’s original namesake, General Braxton Bragg, was a Confederate General from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing the most important civil war, which contributed to the fall of the Confederation.

But the Pentagon spokesman said that Hegeth renamed the base to honor another Bragg, PFC. Roland L. Bragg, as he said was a World War II hero that earned Silver Star and Purple Heart for his extraordinary courage during the Battle of the bulging.

“This change emphasizes the inheritance of the installation in recognizing those who have demonstrated extraordinary service and victims of the nation,” spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement.

The election of the private first class from 2nd World War came around a law banning the military to name a base after a Confederate Leader.

In a video he sent on X, announcing he was renaming the base, Hegeth said: “That’s right. Bragg is back! “

In reality, the base had still been widely known as Bragg, where the new name had not really taken hold. On Hegeth’s first official day as a defense secretary, he made a point of calling it Fort Bragg in his first exchange with journalists.