Fort Bragg officially becomes Fort Liberty as post breaks ties with Confederacy

FORT LIBERTY — Moments after casing the colors for Fort Bragg and revealing the Fort Liberty flag, the installation’s senior commander referenced a phrase used in the military community for years.

“Welcome to Fort Liberty, the center of the universe,” Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of the 18^th Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, said during a redesignation ceremony Friday, which was attended by service members, veterans, local government officials, community members and military families.

Fort Bragg was first designated in 1918 as Camp Bragg after North Carolina native Braxton Bragg, an artillery officer who fought in the Mexican-American War, was a Confederate general in the Civil War and was associated with being a slave owner.   

Renewed conversations about redesignating military installations with Confederate names followed the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd. Floyd, a Black man who was born in Fayetteville, was killed while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

In December 2020, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act which includes a provision mandating military installations named after Confederates to be renamed.   

Col. John Wilcox, the Fort Liberty garrison commander, said updated costs associated with the name change are about $8 million.

The Army post, formerly known as Fort Bragg, serves a total population of more than 282,000, including more than 50,000 service members and 20,000 Department of Army civilians and contractors.

After Friday’s ceremony, Donahue said the new name of the home of the Army’s airborne and special operation forces does not change the mission of its soldiers.

“The Army is people,” Donahue said. “It always will be. That’s what this is about.”

Retired Gen. Dan McNeill, who is a prior commander for the 82^nd Airborne Division, 18^th Airborne Corps and U.S. Army Forces Command and served on a local Cumberland County renaming commission, said his brother-in-law was born on Fort Bragg in 1948.

“My brother-in-law will always have been born at Fort Bragg, but if he comes to see me today, he will drive onto Fort Liberty,” McNeill said. “It’s that simple.”

After reviewing thousands of name recommendations and hosting several local community meetings, the national Naming Commission recommended Fort Bragg’s new name be Fort Liberty.

Of the nine Army posts renamed, Fort Liberty is the only one named after a value and not a person.

Related coverage: 'Part of this tradition': Sunset march ties Fort Bragg's past to Fort Liberty's future

Gold Star mom who inspired name change speaks

On Friday, officials revealed that Gold Star mother Patti Elliott inspired the name liberty.

Elliott’s son, Spc. Daniel Lucas Elliott, was a member of the Army Reserve military police when he was killed by a roadside bomb July 15, 2011, in Basra, Iraq. He was deployed with the Cary-based 805th Military Police Company. The Army Reserve Center in Cary is named in his honor.

After Friday’s ceremony, Elliott said that during the early stages of renaming Fort Bragg, the assistant director of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs told her that he’d appointed her to serve on the local Fort Bragg renaming commission.

Elliott is state president of the North Carolina branch of the American Gold Star Mothers and also is part of the Army Survivor Advisory Working Group.

By the end of the summer of 2021, Elliott stood up during a meeting after hearing proposals for Fort Bragg’s new name.

Elliott said she appreciated that each person who proposed a name had a “special interest” to “advance their cause,” but as each person spoke, she realized names were being left out.

“There had to be a way that we could include everyone and make it significant for those who have come before and those who will come in the future — the legacy that we are building now,” she said.

Donahue and McNeill said those who were part of the local naming commission were an inclusive group, and that it was hard to pick one name from all of Fort Bragg’s Medal of Honor recipients, heroes and leaders.

“How could you choose any and leave any of those others behind,” Donahue asked. “How could you actually leave behind those who will come?”

Donahue said Elliott told the group her son died for liberty.

The word, he said, is part of Fayetteville’s history in signing one of the first records to fight for liberty against Great Britain in 1774, and is also in the 82^nd Airborne Division's song and Special Forces motto.

He said a new tradition that kicked off Thursday night, the Sunset Liberty March, is a way to honor all of the post’s heroes daily, while also “telling the story” of Fort Bragg and Fort Liberty’s history.

“This community and all of us, we were given a mission," he said. "We accomplished it. We were told what to do. We’re in the United States Army. We do what we’re told to do, and we make it better.”

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fort Bragg renamed Fort Liberty