Why the congressional Naming Commission chose Fort Liberty for Fort Bragg

FORT BRAGG — Officials with the national Naming Commission were adamant Tuesday that the recommendation to rename Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty comes from the local community.

The commission was mandated by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to identify assets, including Army installations, that commemorate the Confederacy; research costs to rename the installations; and gain community input for what the new names will be. Fort Bragg was among nine U.S. military installations slated for a name change.

Starting with more than 34,000 submissions, the commission narrowed the list to 3,670 and then in March released a shortlist of 87 possible names, said retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, vice-chair of the Naming Commission. Fort Liberty did not make the shortlist but the list did include the word "courage" as a possibility.

Still, Fort Liberty was selected unanimously by the eight-member panel as a suitable new name for Fort Bragg, Seidule said.

“We listened very carefully to local sensitivities,” he said.

Fort Bragg is so named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general associated with being a slave owner and losing battles during the Civil War.

The commission shortlist released in March included the names of service members who served at Fort Bragg such as Medal of Honor recipients Sgt. 1st Class William Bryant, Sgt. 1st Class William Joel, Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. 1st Class Randall Shughart; 82nd Airborne Division Gens. Roscoe Robinson, James Gavin and Matthew Ridgway; and Capt. Kimberly Hampton, the Army’s first female combat pilot killed in action. Hampton's OH-58D Kiowa helicopter was shot down near Fallujah, Iraq, on Jan. 2, 2004.  

Community reacts to recommendation

Grilley Mitchell, president of the Cumberland County Veterans Council, attended a public meeting hosted by the city of Fayetteville and the commission in September.

At the September meeting, Mitchell said veterans in the community were willing to compromise by renaming Fort Bragg after Braxton Bragg’s cousin, Gen. Edward S. Bragg, who served in the Union Army.

“I have not attended any additional meetings about the renaming of Fort Bragg,” Michell said Tuesday. “The discussions have been very limited with other veterans, I really don't have any additional comments.”

Jimmy Buxton, president of the Cumberland County NAACP, also attended one of the first community meetings hosted by the commission.

Buxton said he heard recommendations to rename the installation after Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez, a Special Forces Medal of Honor recipient.

Buxton said he thought that renaming Fort Bragg after Gen. Robinson, the first Black Commander of the 82nd Airborne Divison; or Sgt. 1st Class Joel, a native North Carolinian and the first Black soldier to receive the Medal of Honor since the Spanish American War, would have also been appropriate.

Based on social media comments he saw after Tuesday’s announcement, Buxton said he does not think Fort Liberty has 100% community support.

“I’m a bit dismayed and feel like they didn’t listen to the public,” he said. “Why would they ask for input and come up with something different?

"To be honest, Fort Liberty doesn’t catch my ear.”

Buxton said community members who don't support the recommendation should reach out to Rep. Richard Hudson, whose congressional district includes Fort Bragg, or Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis.

Siedel said commission representatives met with “hundreds of military and civilian leaders” and community stakeholders at each of the installations last summer for input and met with local communities privately again between March and April after the release of the shortlist.

Commission member Lawrence Romo said the community was "adamant" about the name Fort Liberty during the commission's second meeting with the community a few weeks ago.

Siedel said post commanders ensured a broad representation of diverse political voices, leaders of faith, soldiers and members of the community were represented at meetings.

“When we went back to Fort Bragg, we did feel like we got a broad representation on post and off post, but that was led by the mission commander,” he said.

Where did Fort Liberty come from

Siedel said Fort Liberty was the name local community members said the commission should consider.

Commission member Jerry Buchannan said that at each post visited, some members of the community brought pros and cons of renaming the installation after a specific person, and for some, a value — like liberty — did not tell the installation’s story.

Retired Army Lt. Gen Thomas Bostick, who also served on the commission, said commission members noticed changes in community recommendations from the commission's first community meetings compared to a second meeting as the “community came together.”

Liberty, Seidule said, is written in the Declaration of Independence and found on current and national monuments.

“Ever since the nation created a standing Army to provide for the common defense, that Army’s greatest battles had been for liberty,” he said. “In the Revolutionary War, United States soldiers fought to establish liberty for our nation. In the Civil War, they fought to achieve liberty for all nations and in the second World War, they fought to expand liberty throughout much of the world.”

Seidule said the name Fort Liberty embodies Fort Bragg as the home of the airborne and Army Special Forces.

He said it anchors the Special Forces motto, “To free the oppressed,” and the 82nd Airborne Division's song that says, “We’re all American and proud to be, for we’re the soldiers of liberty.”

As the commission sought community input in September, the idea of renaming installations after a concept — like Fort Liberty —was suggested in an 18th Airborne Corps podcast.

In January, Fort Bragg officials announced that an abandoned road on post would become the installation's newest park, naming it Liberty Park. It includes a walking trail known as Liberty Trail.

At the installation’s monthly community information exchange meeting in January, garrison commander Col. Scott Pence said that Gen. Dan McNeill, who had organized community representatives, suggested that the installation could be named after an idea like “liberty.”

“He also knew from his experience being a former commander and leader here on Fort Bragg that liberty had the potential to unite all the ties on Fort Bragg,” Pence said.

What’s next

During Tuesday’s news conference, Seidule said the commission will submit its final report of recommendations to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees by Oct. 1.

Seidule said the Commission is only researching what renaming assets will cost the Department of Defense.

However, the commission has heard concerns about costs outside the installation's gates and will include those concerns in its report to Congress, he said.

The National Defense Authorization Act says that the secretary of defense is expected to implement the plan no later than Jan. 2, 2024.

“For our final recommendations, we aim to find names that would inspire soldiers, civilians, families, the community and the nation,” Seidule said. “One thing became clear, we found far, far more heroes than we had opportunities to name.”

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

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cumberland County weighs in on renaming Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty