North Carolina's Fort Bragg sheds Confederate name, becomes Fort Liberty

(Reuters) - Fort Bragg, the U.S. Army base in North Carolina that is among the world's largest military installations, was formally renamed Fort Liberty on Friday, part of a broader effort to rechristen bases named for Confederate officers.

Last year, a commission created by Congress recommended new names for nine bases that honored Confederate officers, after the nationwide protests following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd prompted the military to re-examine its history through the lens of race.

In a video on Friday announcing the change, the Army said the base is the only one to be named after a value, rather than a person.

"No value has proven more integral to the United States and the history of its military than liberty," the video said.

Established in 1918, the North Carolina base was originally named for General Braxton Bragg, who served in the Confederate Army during the 19th-century U.S. Civil War. It houses the Airborne and Special Operations Forces and is home to 53,700 troops, according to its website.

The next base to change names will be Fort Polk in Louisiana, which will become Fort Johnson later this month in honor of Henry Johnson, a Black soldier lauded for his heroism in World War One combat.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Tyler Clifford; Editing by Bill Berkrot)