FORT LIBERTY – All eyes could be on this military base, now that Donald J. Trump is heading back to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Let us recall his words.
Or, if you will, his promise.
“I will govern by a simple motto,” the 78-year-old Republican president-elect was saying early on Nov. 6 at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, after securing victory over Vice President Kamala Harris that will assure Trump as the nation’s commander-in-chief over all military branches.
“Promises made. Promises kept. We’re going to keep our promise. Nothing will stop me from keeping my word to you, the people.”
Among his promises on the campaign trail was to secure the southern border and deport illegal immigrants. Among his promises was to quickly end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. And among his promises on Oct. 4 at the Cumberland County Complex Arena was to restore the name of Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg.
Trump told us it was one of the first questions he was asked about when arriving at the arena.
“So, here’s what we do,” he told the audience. “We get elected,” and then “I’m doing it.”
The crowd cheered in approval.
Our neighboring military base was redesignated on June 2, 2023, at a ceremony on the Main Post Parade Field with about 1,000 military personnel and civilians, including Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue and members of the Renaming Committee acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense after Congress on Jan. 1, 2021, mandated dropping the names of Confederate soldiers from nine military bases.
What today is Fort Liberty was known as Fort Bragg since Sept. 30, 1922, and four years before as Camp Bragg. Gen. Braxton Bragg, for whom the base originally was named, enslaved people during the Civil War, published reports tell us.
“It’s my honor to welcome you to Fort Liberty,” Donahue, commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps, would say after the redesignation on June 2, 2023, of the world’s most populated Army installation.
‘I hope he is successful’
A military base is a military base, but for some military veterans who once served here, Fort Liberty always will be Fort Bragg, and apparently, the president-elect has always been on their side.
“Our family arrived in Fayetteville many years ago when my husband was assigned to Fort Bragg,” says Linda Devore, a state delegate who attended the Republication National Convention in July at the United Center in Milwaukee. “I believe Trump will do his best to find a way to restore the name Fort Bragg to our military installation, and I hope he is successful.
“I know many others in our community who feel the same. Not because of, nor despite, the life of Braxton Bragg. The Republican Party was founded as the abolitionist party. My family members were Union soldiers, and my great-great uncle died in a POW camp in eastern North Carolina, but I am proud of my Tar Heel home because of the good people who built back after the Civil War ended, and who we are today.
“Fort Bragg is known throughout the world because of its proud history as the home of the airborne and a symbol of United States military might,” Devore said, “whose men and women defend freedom around the world — not the obscure personal life of its namesake.”
‘A good name backed by a Gold Star mother’
Others disagree with reverting to Fort Bragg.
“Trump has threatened many things and later decided to take a different direction,” said Dan Dederick, a retired Marine and U.S. Intelligence lieutenant colonel and currently a civilian aide to the Army for North Carolina. “I believe that prudence will prevail, and the name will stand. It is a good name backed by a Gold Star mother.”
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Al Aycock served with the 82nd Airborne Division, 18th Airborne Corps and 5th Special Forces Group Airborne. He supported the redesignation of June 2, 2023, and hasn’t changed his mind.
“I stand by the statement in your earlier article on how the process found the right name,” Aycock says about CityView’s June 3, 2023, published report. “I’d suggest a comment on how any future political process involved would be handled will be best addressed by elected officials.”
The Kirby File reached out to Rep. Diane Wheatley, the Republican who recently won a third term in the N.C. House as a District 43 representative for Cumberland County. The Kirby File also reached out to N.C. Sen. Tom McInnis, the Republican who will serve a sixth fifth term in the 21st District that represents Moore County and parts of Cumberland County.
Neither legislator responded to multiple requests in the past three weeks.
Four-star Gen. (Ret.) Dan K. McNeill served as commander of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003, commanding general of the U.S. Army Forces Command from 2004 to 2007, and commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from Feb. 1, 2007, to June 3, 2008.
He received every executive military star on Fort Liberty as well as his retirement ceremony at the Main Post Parade Field.
He was chair of the Redesignation Committee that settled on the name “Fort Liberty” at the suggestion of Patti Elliott, the Gold Star mother who lost her son, Spc. Daniel Lucas Elliott, at age 21 on July 15, 2011, while serving in Basara, Iraq.
“I tend to believe those closest to him,” McNeill says about the president-elect’s campaign promise, “would advise that he has bigger fish to fry.”
Epilogue
Campaign political rhetoric, President-elect Trump?
Or a campaign political promise to keep?
Donald J. Trump takes his oath as the 47th president on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025.
Our neighboring military base will be watching, and a Gold Star mother, too.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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