War of words: Will Fort Bragg change name again after committee vote?
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WTVD) -- Fort Bragg could undergo its third name change in five years as a U.S. House committee votes to rename nine military installations as part of the latest annual defense bill proposal draft. The push is fueling mixed reactions among veterans, residents, and historians, while raising questions about the cost to taxpayers.
Last year, the North Carolina Department of Transportation spent nearly $200,000 changing highway signs from "Liberty" back to "Bragg." Many, including veterans, say the name "Bragg" is ingrained in the military installation's identity and has become less about honoring Confederate General Braxton Bragg, for whom the Army post is no longer named.
"We know that Fort Bragg always was. Always will be," said John Whinery, a Korean War veteran who served three decades in the Army, including 12 years at the post.
"I personally, I don't care. People are going to call it Bragg. People call it Liberty. So it's kind of whatever happens," said Kashius Smiley, a retired veteran.
Still, Whinery is among those who prefer the name to stay. "I wanted it to stay there," he said.
For more than a century, Fort Bragg bore the name of Braxton Bragg. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Professor of American Military History and the Civil War, Joseph Glatthaar, said the original naming was partly due to practicality.
"When they began naming military facilities, they literally began looking for shorter names because when you had to type them out, it was quicker," he said.
In 2023, a congressional mandate to remove Confederate names during the Biden Administration led to the installation being renamed Fort Liberty, at a cost to the Pentagon of more than $6 million. Changing the name again would require new road signs and additional expenses.
"It's a pretty common occurrence, and all the road signs would need to be changed and so on and so forth. So it becomes a bigger and bigger deal," Glatthaar said.
By 2025, under the Trump Administration, the Pentagon again changed the name, this time, honoring Pfc. Roland Bragg, which some Democrats criticized as a way to preserve Confederate-linked names, even though Roland Bragg was from the Northeast. Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., pushed for an amendment last year to prevent federal funding from being used to rename installations with Confederate associations.
Earlier this month, Strickland's amendment to revert installation names to those approved in the 2021 defense budget narrowly passed committee in a 29-27 vote.
For many veterans, the biggest issue is cost.
"I personally think we need to quit spending money. We can spend that money elsewhere," said Smiley.
The bill still needs approval from the full House and Senate before any changes can take effect.
