Less than two years after Fort Bragg officially became Fort Liberty, the North Carolina Army base’s name is changing back to Fort Bragg.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Army officials Monday to change the name. But it’s not the same soldier who inspired the initial Fort Bragg name.

Instead of renaming the base after Gen. Braxton Bragg, the native North Carolinian and Confederate leader who the base had been named after in 1918, Hegseth said Monday night the installation would be named after Pfc. Roland Bragg, a soldier who was assigned to the 18th Airborne Corps at the base during World War II.

Bragg earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for “his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge,” according to a statement by DOD press secretary John Ullyot.

The Trump administration was expected to move to rename Fort Liberty after President Donald Trump criticized the renaming of Fort Bragg on the campaign trail last year and vowed during a rally in Fayetteville to restore the installation’s name.

In a memorandum directing the Army to take steps to rename the base, Hegseth said that Fort Bragg, which was originally named Camp Bragg, had been home to tens of thousands of soldiers that had trained and deployed from the installation to “crises and conflicts around the world in defense of our nation.”

“Fort Bragg has a long and proud history of equipping, training, and preparing our Soldiers to fight and prevail in any operational environment,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth said his directive to rename the base “honors the personal courage and selfless service of all those who have trained to fight and win our nation’s wars, including Pfc. Bragg, and is in keeping with the installation’s esteemed and storied history.”

The memo signed by Hegseth directs the Secretary of the Army to “take all steps necessary and appropriate actions to implement this decision in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.” It orders the Army to advise the Department of Defense of its plan for implementation, including “timelines and resource requirements.”

“Bragg is back,” Hegseth said in a video posted on social media after signing the memo on board a C-17 en route to Stuttgart, Germany

Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023, after a commission established by Congress to rename military installations named after Confederate leaders recommended changing the name of the installation and eight others.

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