Private First Class Roland Leon Bragg couldn’t be called anything but a hero for his actions during World War II. A native of Webster, Maine, Bragg enlisted in the Army at the age of 20 in July 1943. He was stationed at Fort Bragg and deployed to Europe with the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps.
Bragg received a Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and a Purple Heart for wounds he sustained during the Battle of the Bulge. The Silver Star is the third highest military decoration for valor, and Bragg more than earned it.
After he was wounded during the battle, Bragg and other wounded paratroopers were captured by a German soldier and brought behind enemy lines. Bragg and the German shared something in common: they were both Freemasons. The German soldier agreed to let Bragg go free, but only if Bragg would knock him out to make it look like a struggle.
“Wounded as he was, Pvt. First Class Bragg was more than happy to oblige,” said Lt. Gen. Gregory Anderson, current XVIII Airborne Corps commander.
Bragg took the German soldier’s uniform, commandeered an ambulance, loaded up the wounded, and drove for the American line. He made it through the day convinced that he was the sole survivor of the ordeal, as he was told all whom he had tried to save, died.
But nearly 50 years later, he received a letter. A former paratrooper had reached out, looking for information about a fellow soldier, who had loaded himself and others into an ambulance and had driven like mad to get them to safety.
“I remember sitting at that kitchen table reading that letter; chills went up and down my spine,” Bragg is quoted to have said.
That man, John Marks, lived to see the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, a battle he only survived because of the heroism of Roland L. Bragg.
“They met, two ordinary men bound by an extraordinary moment, and found each other across the decades. This stands as a testament to the bonds forged in this place. Over 80 years have passed since Pvt. First Class Bragg was here,” said Lt. Gen. Anderson. “Eight decades of soldiers from Fort Bragg deploying to every major conflict defending America and her allies across the globe. They come home to Fort Bragg.”
On Friday, March 7, Fort Liberty was redesignated to Fort Bragg in Roland Bragg’s honor.
Editor’s note: I've been in Fayetteville as an Army spouse for over ten years, and I have experienced most of that time working on Fort Bragg in various capacities.
I worked in the Fort Bragg Garrison Public Affairs Office as part of the staff of the Paraglide for years. I have enjoyed my time on Bragg, photographing the first MLB game held on a military installation; interviewing and photographing Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden, and Vice President Pence; jumping out of airplanes with the Golden Knights and experiencing then Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy's first jump out of a plane since he had served; covering medical training lanes out at the Medical Simulation Training Center as part of the Army Best Medic Competition; experiencing the wonderful Thanksgiving feast provided by the 2nd Brigade Combat Team's Dining Facility.
But something that I considered the most important, and special, thing I did as part of the PAO office was the 100th anniversary celebration of Fort Bragg in 2018. Thanks to the support of then Garrison PAO Tom McCollum, I literally got to write the history of the installation for the newspaper over the course of the year.
The renaming ceremony is another chapter in this history.
In 1918, when the military post was being created, the War Department cast around for a native North Carolinian who had served in the military. They did this all across the South with the different installations, but North Carolina was unfortunately a little short on supply of top notch generals, and so Braxton Bragg was chosen.
Braxton was far from a celebrated general. A quote from an unnamed Confederate soldier that often gets tossed around regarding Bragg says, “General Bragg proceeded to ask me ‘Do you know what a retreat looks like?’, to which I responded, ‘Yes, I ought to General, I’ve been with you during the whole campaign.’”
While not the ideal candidate of strength the War Department was hoping to find, Camp Bragg nonetheless became Braxton Bragg’s namesake.
One could argue, and I have, that naming the installation after Braxton Bragg was a political move. The War Department needed North Carolina (and other Southern states) to agree to these large military installations. The climate and soil were similar to what they were finding in Europe, where World War I was raging. The South was still feeling a bit of the sting of the Civil War, and by naming these installations after Southern generals, the War Department hoped to get a little goodwill.
Fast forward to 2020, when Congress pushed past a veto by President Trump to rename the installation. The political naming battle continued, with “Liberty” being chosen to replace “Bragg” in 2023. The moniker was suggested by a Gold Star mother who said, “My son didn’t die for Bragg, he died for liberty.”
The nation had learned who Braxton Bragg was, and what he represented: Not just a substandard general, who probably didn’t deserve to have the “Center of the Military Universe” named after him, but a slave owner.
And now we are back to Bragg, but this time the Bragg being honored is someone worth honoring. At the ceremony on March 7, Lt. Gen. Anderson was adamant about the legacy and tradition of Fort Bragg. He talked about the statue of Iron Mike, how it represents all soldiers who come and train in the crucible of the installation.
“Fort Bragg is where soldiers transform from ordinary to the extraordinary and where the call finds its answer,” he said.
While I certainly find that to be true, I also see that Bragg has a legacy of politics that it can’t seem to escape.
“The military is supposed to be apolitical. Politicizing the arm of the executive branch that is responsible for policy when diplomacy fails is dangerous. [We are] politicizing a good man’s name,” a soldier told me.
The family, however, doesn’t believe it’s political at all. Jennifer Bell and Rebecca Amirpour believe the renaming was done simply to honor their grandfather’s legacy.
Diane Watts, Roland Bragg’s daughter who was also at the ceremony, said, “They were looking for a man of good character, and they found my dad.”
Looking at Pvt. First Class Roland Bragg’s military career and quiet life after, it’s hard to disagree with her assessment.
“In his honor and in the shared legacy of all who call this home, we answer the call,” Lt. Gen. Anderson said. “Welcome back to Bragg.”
(Photo: The family of Roland L. Bragg unveils the new Headquarters XVIIIAirborne Corps Fort Bragg sign on March 7 at corps headquarters. Photo by Aly Hansen)
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