Fort Bragg to rename Reilly Road, plus other updates on the renaming to Fort Liberty
FORT BRAGG — While Fort Bragg will not be renamed after a person, soldiers who served on post will be remembered and honored in a daily march when the installation becomes Fort Liberty in June, officials said.
The name change comes after the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act mandated that the Naming Commission identify assets, including Army installations, that commemorate the Confederacy. The local post is among nine Army installations identified for a name change.
During a media round table Tuesday, Officials said nine roads on post will also have names changed.
Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, said Reilly Road on post will be renamed after former Command Sgt. Maj. Rock Merritt, a World War II paratrooper who was the first senior enlisted advisor of the 18th Airborne Corp.
Command Sgt. Maj. T.J. Holland, the current senior enlisted advisor for the 18th Airborne Corps, said Bragg Boulevard will also be renamed on post. State officials will have to decide whether to change the state highway’s name off-post, Holland said.
Liberty March
Donahue and Col. John Wilcox, Fort Bragg’s garrison commander, said a Sunset Liberty March will kick off June 1 and start a new tradition to honor veterans and service members who died in defense of the U.S.
The march, Donahue and Holland said, was inspired by Europeans who trace the steps of World War II allied soldiers and paratroopers who participated in the Waal River crossing in Nijmegen and helped liberate their county decades ago.
The march will begin daily at Liberty Plaza, which will have memorials and markers along a more than half-mile route.
The memorials will feature the post's history and conflicts soldiers participated in, starting with when it was designated as Camp Bragg, officials said.
“(It’s) every day at sunset, not once a year, not twice a year,” Donahue said.
Veterans, Gold Star family members and members of the community can sign up and pick a day to march to honor a fallen service member or veteran, said Don Nauck, director of the Task Force Liberty Committee.
Donahue said the Sunset Liberty March is about bringing the community together.
More:It's official: Bragg to be renamed Liberty in June
Thoughts on the name liberty
The word liberty describes the culture at Fort Bragg, and renaming Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty was settled after a process that involved local community members, Donahue said.
“They tried to figure out what is the one word that represents everything the people, the families, the civilians, the veterans in this area have done for our nation,” Donahue said.
Nauck said June 2 won't be the only time Fort Bragg has changed names. In 1918, it was known as Camp Bragg, before designating as Fort Liberty, he said.
The name change, Nauck said, is “history.”
“Bragg is more than a name,” he said. “Bragg is a culture.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory Seymour, the senior enlisted adviser for Fort Bragg’s garrison, said he noticed that culture when he was a 19-year-old paratrooper first assigned to Fort Bragg in 1997.
“This institution has a multitude of names like the center of the universe and things of that nature. For me, this is just a great way to describe even the ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our nation's freedom,” Seymour said.
Donahue said he thinks there is a “small percentage” who will never want the name change.
Costs
While the Renaming Commission estimated Fort Bragg’s name change to cost more than $6 million, Nauck said he estimates it to be about $4 million, but costs are still being captured as officials continue to find assets that will need to be changed.
Costs to local cities are not being tracked, Nauck said.
Cities and local government will have to seek compensation from the federal government if officials decide to change a road or sign off post tied to the Fort Bragg name change, he said.
“We’re not mandating anyone downtown or any city or county to change any names of any businesses (or street) downtown,” Nauck said. “It’s totally up to the city.”
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: What Fort Bragg's top leaders are saying about Fort Liberty
