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Roland L. Bragg

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Roland Leon Bragg
Private First Class Roland L. Bragg in 1943
BornJune 11, 1923
Sabattus, Maine, U.S.
DiedJanuary 12, 1999 (aged 75)
Nobleboro, Maine, U.S.
Buried
Dunbar Cemetery, Nobleboro, Maine, U.S.
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branchUnited States Army
Years of service1943–1945
RankPrivate First Class
Service number31-323-887
Unit513th Parachute Infantry Regiment
17th Airborne Division
Battles / warsWorld War II
AwardsSee list
Spouse(s)Barbara Picinich
Children3
RelationsVal Picinich (father-in-law)

Roland Leon Bragg (June 11, 1923 – January 12, 1999) was a United States Army paratrooper during World War II, mechanic, businessman, and civic leader. Since 2025, he has been the namesake of Fort Bragg.[1]

Early life and family

Bragg was born in 1923 in Sabattus, Maine, the son of Calvin Leroy Bragg and Ella Stevenson Bragg.[2][3][4] His father served in the Army in World War I.[5] As a boy during the Great Depression, Bragg helped pay the family mortgage by riding his bicycle twenty miles into resort towns to sell vegetables from his family's farm.[2][6]

He graduated from Waldoboro High School in 1943. In his twenties, he was married to Barbara Picinich, whose father, Val Picinich, was a catcher for the Boston Red Sox. Bragg and his wife had three children and eleven grandchildren.[2][7]

World War II

Bragg enlisted in the U.S. Army in July 1943 during the Second World War and was stationed at Fort Bragg.[1][8][9] He served as a toxic gas handler from July 1943 to November 1945.[10][11] In August 1944, Bragg deployed to England.[10] Bragg was a paratrooper in the Army with the rank of Private first class, serving with the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge.[1][12] Bragg was wounded in action.[13]

He was credited with driving a stolen German ambulance to get a wounded soldier to an Allied hospital in Belgium, saving his life.[14][15][16]

Later life

After returning home from military service, Bragg owned and operated a body shop and was the owner of Nobleboro Building Movers for 25 years.[17][2][12] He was active in his local community, serving as a local selectman in Nobleboro, school committeeman in Nobleboro,[18] chairman of the local citizens committee, and on a historical preservation committee,[19][20][21] and volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America, Nobleboro Grange, and Damariscotta American Legion.[4][22][23][24]

In the 1970s, Bragg's company was hired to aid in the historic restoration of Granite Hall Block.[25][26] In 1974, Bragg successfully maneuvered a precariously positioned tractor-trailer carrying 27,000 pounds of tuna and swordfish off the dock of the Muscongus Bay Fisheries plant in Moxie Cove, Round Pond, a process that took six hours, was credited with saving thousands of pounds of cargo, and garnered press coverage.[27][28] After retiring in 1984, he ran a portable sawmill business.[2][29] In 1988, Bragg helped lead celebrations of Nobleboro's bicentennial which occurred during his tenure as selectman. This included a formal flag presentation and ceremony with Governor of Maine John R. McKernan Jr.[30]

Bragg lived with post-traumatic stress disorder after his military service.[7] He did not know if he had saved his friend in the war until 1993, when he received a letter from John Martz, a soldier he'd saved that day, writing that he was forever grateful to him. The two men reunited at Martz's home in California, which was attended by reporters and covered by various press outlets at the time.[31][16][32]

Death

Bragg died of cancer on January 12, 1999, at the age of 75. He received a funeral with full Masonic honors and is interred at Dunbar Cemetery in Nobleboro, Maine.[2]

Military awards and honors

In 1945, Bragg was awarded the Silver Star, the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat, for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action."[33][34] He was also a recipient of the Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze stars, a Parachute Badge, and a Combat Infantry Badge.[2][35][10]

Fort Bragg

Memorandum signed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth renaming Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg in honor of Roland Bragg

Fort Bragg was originally named for Confederate Army general and slave owner Braxton Bragg and renamed Fort Liberty in 2023 after an act of Congress prohibited naming federal installations after Confederate officials.[36][37][38] Roland L. Bragg's name was one of thousands submitted by the public before the naming commission's decision.[36][39] In February 2025, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum restoring the name Fort Bragg, honoring Private First Class Bragg.[36][37][38]

The story of Bragg stealing a German ambulance to get wounded soldiers to an Allied hospital was told in John Eisenhower's 1969 book, The Bitter Woods.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c Ullyot, John (February 10, 2025). "Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Renames Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg". U.S. Department of Defense. Archived from the original on February 11, 2025. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bartlett, Will (January 14, 1999). "Roland L. Bragg decorated veteran, building mover, Mason". Portland Press Herald. ProQuest 276912895 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ U.S. Census, 1930
  4. ^ a b Norton, F. T. (February 11, 2025). "Pete Hegseth orders Fort Liberty name change. Who is Pfc. Roland L. Bragg?". The Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  5. ^ "Local Men Leave for Camp Devens". The Lewiston Daily Sun. March 30, 1918.
  6. ^ Breed, Allen G.; Robertson, Gary D.; Whittle, Patrick (February 11, 2025). "Fort Liberty may become Fort Bragg again, but named after a different soldier". Yahoo News. Associated Press. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Treisman, Rachel (February 11, 2025). "Fort Bragg 2.0: Army base reverts to its old name, but with a new namesake". NPR. Archived from the original on February 11, 2025. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  8. ^ "United States, World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8RM-ZNB : 5 December 2014), Roland L Bragg, enlisted 07 Jul 1943, Portland, Maine, United States; citing "Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946," database, The National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD) (http://aad.archives.gov : National Archives and Records Administration, 2002); NARA NAID 1263923, National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
  9. ^ "NARA - AAD - Display Full Records - Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records)". aad.archives.gov. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c Copp, Tara; Baldor, Lolita C. (February 11, 2025). "Hegseth renames North Carolina military base Fort Roland L. Bragg and signals more change coming". AP News. Archived from the original on February 11, 2025. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  11. ^ Bradshaw, Abby (February 11, 2025). "Fort Liberty to be renamed Fort Bragg, honoring WWII hero Pvt. Roland Bragg". WCTI-TV. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Defense Secretary Renames Fort Liberty as Fort Bragg, Honoring WWII Soldier". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  13. ^ "Army Wounded - European Regions". Bangor Daily Commercial. March 27, 1945. p. 10.
  14. ^ a b Eisenhower, John S. D. (1969). The Bitter Woods: The Dramatic Story, Told at All Echelons--from Supreme Command to Squad Leader-- of the Crisis that Shook the Western Coalition : Hitler's Surprise Ardennes Offensive. Putnam. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-89839-106-0.
  15. ^ Ortiz, Miguel (February 10, 2025). "Fort Liberty is back to Fort Bragg, but with a different origin story". We Are The Mighty. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  16. ^ a b Quade, Joe (July 5, 2016). "WWII 2nd Army Maneuvers Remembered". Reunions Magazine. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  17. ^ "Corporate Information". Secretary of State of Maine. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  18. ^ Maine Register, State Year-book and Legislative Manual. Tower Publishing Company. 1954.
  19. ^ Dow, George (August 10, 2022). "Nobleboro History Revisited: To Save One-Room Schoolhouse". The Lincoln County News. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  20. ^ "Revaluation, Building Code Defeated At Nobleboro". Portland Press Herald. March 9, 1969. p. 10.
  21. ^ "Taxpayers form citizens group". Portland Press Herald. February 22, 1963. p. 12.
  22. ^ Maine Register, State Year-book and Legislative Manual. Tower Publishing Company. 1985. ISBN 978-0-89442-058-0.
  23. ^ Shepherd, Michael (February 11, 2025). "Daughter of Maine war hero shocked that he is Fort Bragg's new namesake". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  24. ^ "Roland Bragg Elected by Nobleboro Grange". Portland Press Herald. November 18, 1948. p. 2.
  25. ^ Grant, Joan (January 20, 1973). "Round Pond's Old Block Being Rejuvenated". Lewiston Evening Journal. p. 1.
  26. ^ "History". Granite Hall Store. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  27. ^ "Sitting at the Dock of the Bay". Bangor Daily News. July 13, 1974. p. 22.
  28. ^ Blair & Ketchum's Country Journal. Country Journal Publishing. 1984.
  29. ^ Ditzler, Joseph (February 11, 2025). "'Bragg is back': Defense secretary restores name of Army post in North Carolina". Stars and Stripes. Archived from the original on February 11, 2025. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  30. ^ Morrissey, Susan P. (July 2, 1988). "Nobleboro Celebrates 200 Years Over Weekend". The Bangor Daily News. p. 6.
  31. ^ Shaffer, John (February 11, 2025). "Who is Fort Bragg named after? Meet the man who stole a Nazi ambulance to save a soldier". The News & Observer.
  32. ^ Diehl, Phil (March 14, 1994). "O'side man reunited with WWII lifesaver". North County Times. p. 1.
  33. ^ "Roland Bragg". Hall of Valor: Medal of Honor, Silver Star, U.S. Military Awards. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  34. ^ Ismay, John (February 11, 2025). "Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Renames Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 11, 2025. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  35. ^ Flisiuk, Francis (February 11, 2025). "Fort Liberty renamed to Fort Bragg, but without Confederate ties". WMTW (TV). Archived from the original on February 11, 2025. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  36. ^ a b c Watson, Eleanor (February 10, 2025). "Pentagon to restore Fort Liberty's name to Fort Bragg". CBS News. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  37. ^ a b Copp, Tara; Baldor, Lolita C. (February 11, 2025). "Hegseth renames North Carolina military base Fort Roland L. Bragg and signals more change coming". AP News. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  38. ^ a b Breed, Allen G.; Robertson, Gary D.; Whittle, Patrick (February 12, 2025). "Fort Liberty may become Fort Bragg again, but named after a different soldier". AP News. Archived from the original on February 12, 2025. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  39. ^ "The Naming Commission Final Report to Congress" (PDF). U.S. Department of Defense. 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 29, 2024. Retrieved February 11, 2025.

Further reading

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