Hegseth orders Fort Liberty be renamed Fort Bragg

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered military base Fort Liberty, located in North Carolina, be reverted to Fort Bragg.

The order contravenes a measure backed in Congress that led to the renaming of the army base in 2023, which was part of a wider initiative to rename military installations commemorating figures linked to the Confederacy.

Hegseth said the base will now be named after a World War Two veteran, Pte Roland L Bragg, rather than its original namesake, Gen Braxton Bragg, a Confederate soldier who lost a number of battles in the American Civil War.

"That's right, Bragg is back," Hegseth said during the signing, in a video posted on his social media account.

Hegseth signed the directive while flying to Europe on a military plane on Monday.

"The new name pays tribute to Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II hero who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge," a statement by defence department press secretary John Ullyot said.

"This change underscores the installation's legacy of recognizing those who have demonstrated extraordinary service and sacrifice for the nation," he added.

The move fulfils a pledge made by President Donald Trump during his campaign to return to office.

During a rally in North Carolina last year, Trump criticised the name change, telling a crowd of supporters near the base: "we're gonna get it back. We're gonna bring our country back".

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, had also previously expressed his dissatisfaction over the initial name change to Fort Liberty.

While promoting his book War on Warriors, published last year, he said: "We should change it back, because legacy matters. My uncle served at Bragg. I served at Bragg. It breaks a generational link."

While Hegseth said Fort Bragg now had a new namesake, a 2022 Congressional commission report that originally led to the base's renaming purposefully decided not to use the same last names as Confederate figures in renaming initiatives.

The report noted that Gen Braxton Bragg was a slave-owning plantation owner and "one of the worst generals of the Civil War".

Fort Bragg was one of nine bases that the Naming Commission suggested be renamed.

The commission was added to a defence bill in 2020. Trump vetoed the bill, but the House and Senate overrode his veto.

Fort Bragg officially became Fort Liberty during a ceremony in June 2023.

The army base is home to about 52,000 personnel and is known for being able to rapidly deploy troops overseas.