Political Sleight of Hand Used in Renaming Ft. Bragg

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, a US. Army base, was established in 1918 and for decades has served as the home of the 82nd Airborne Division.   It was named after Braxton Bragg, a general in the Confederate Army.  In 2020 following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, a national outcry ensued which inflamed racial tensions throughout the country.  As a part of the response to the nationwide protests, Congress passed legislation renaming nine military bases in the United States that had been originally named for Confederate officers.  Donald Trump, a victim of bone spurs who was President at the time, promptly vetoed that measure.

The legislation to rename the bases was brought up again in the Biden administration, and in 2023 President Biden signed the bill which changed the names of the nine bases.  At that time Ft. Bragg became Ft. Liberty.

One of Donald Trump's many campaign promises when he ran for the presidency again in 2024 was that he would change the name of Ft. Liberty back to Ft. Bragg, a move which looked like a nod to racist elements within his base - and a feat which he was able to accomplish within his first two months in office.  In February former Fox sports broadcaster and current Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum directing that the base's name be changed back to Ft. Bragg, an act which was completed last Friday, March 7th.

But the name change was not as straight forward as it sounds.   Instead of resurrecting the honor of Confederate General Braxton Bragg, a man who was not necessarily revered for his military prowess nor respected by his troops, this time the base name was changed to honor a different Bragg.    Now it was being named for PFC Roland Bragg of Maine who served as a paratrooper in World War II.   Private First Class Bragg saw service in the Battle of the Bulge and was a prisoner of war for a time before escaping his Nazi captors and rescuing some wounded fellow prisoners in the process.

Roland Bragg received the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for service to his country.  He died in 1999 at the age of seventy-five after spending his post-war life working in construction and physically moving houses from one location to another.

Members of Roland Bragg's family were reportedly shocked to learn that Ft. Bragg was being named after their father.  But it was a clever move on the administration's part, one that fulfilled a campaign promise for Trump, served as another blow to the "woke" culture (whatever the hell that is), and probably left more than a few Trump supporter's feeling (mistakenly) that the South had risen again.

PFC Roland Bragg was certainly far more deserving of the honor of having a major military base named after him than the slave-holding and militarily inept Confederate General Braxton Bragg, but Roland's elevation in the annals of American history has more to do with his last name than it does with his very distinguished military service.

If Roland Bragg had been born Roland Smith or Roland Jones, he would still be lost in the dark tides of history.

Congratulations, PFC Roland Bragg, on the honor of having a major US military base bearing your name, regardless of how that honor ultimately came about. 

And thank you for your service, sir, in defense of the free world.

Salute!