Fort Bragg History

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Fort Bragg HistorySource:http://www.bragg.army.mil/history/HistoryPage/History%20of%20Fort%20Bragg/fort1.htm

1919-1939

In 1918 the Chief of Field Artillery, General William J. Snow,seeking an area having suitable terrain, adequate water, railfacilities, and a climate for year round training, decided that thearea now known as Fort Bragg met all of the desired criteria.Consequently, Camp Bragg came into existence on 4 September1918. Camp Bragg was named for a native North Carolinian, General

Braxton Bragg.Prior to its establishment as a military reservation, the area was adesolate region. Huge forests of long-leaf and loblolly pines coveredthe sandy area. About 1729 Highland Scots began cultivating theland in the Long Street area in what was to be the Main Post sectionof Camp Bragg. At the beginning of World War I only seven percentof the land was occupied and the population consisted ofapproximately 170 families.

During the first year of its existence, $6,000,000 was spent inpurchasing land and erecting cantonments for six artillery brigades.Although cessation of hostilities came in November 1918, work wasrapidly pushed to a conclusion and February 1, 1919, saw thecompletion of Camp Bragg.

As soon as World War I was over, the artillery personnel andmateriel from Camp McClellan, Alabama were transferred to CampBragg in order accommodate testing the new long range weapons

developed during the war. Because demobilization had begun, theWar Department decided to reduce the size of Camp Bragg from theplanned six to a two brigade cantonment to provide a garrison forRegular Army units and a training center for National GuardArtillery units. Military personnel then took over all of the work atthe Camp, a large part of which had been done by wartime civilianemployees. The year 1920 saw little military training taking place.

A large tract of land on the reservation had been set aside as alanding field to be used in connection with observation of Field

Artillery firing. Here were stationed various aircraft and balloondetachments to serve the Field Artillery Board. On April 1, 1919,


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the landing field was named Pope Field in honor of First LieutenantHarley H. Pope who was killed in an airplane accident nearFayetteville. Pilots landing at Pope Field were instructed to makeone or two low passes over the landing strip to clear it of wild deer,

so abundant were the herds of deer in the cantonment.Early in 1921 two Field Artillery units, the 13 th and 17 th FieldArtillery Brigades, began training in the camp. However, due topost-war cutbacks, the War Department decided to abandon CampBragg on August 23, 1921. This was averted by the determinedefforts of General Albert J. Bowley, Commanding General of CampBragg, various civic organizations in the nearby city of Fayetteville,and a personal inspection by the Secretary of War. Theabandonment order was rescinded on September 16, 1921.

One year later, September 30, 1922, Camp Bragg became FortBragg, a permanent Army post. Under the direction of GeneralBowley, development of the Fort progressed rapidly. Paradegrounds, training facilities, baseball diamonds and other athleticfacilities were constructed to lend a permanent air to Fort Bragg.

Because Fort Bragg was the only reservation in the United Stateswith room enough to test the latest in long range artillery weapons,the Field Artillery Board was transferred here from Fort Sill,Oklahoma on February 1, 1922.

From 1923 to 1926 Field Artillery regiments made considerableprogress in learning how to operate in deep sand, heavy mud,swamps, streams and forests. For each type of Field Artilleryweapon there was an organization stationed at Fort Bragg armedwith that particular weapon. This made Fort Bragg a Field ArtilleryLaboratory where every new item of Field Artillery equipment couldbe given a practical field test.

From 1923 through 1927 permanent structures were erected on FortBragg. Four of the brick artillery barracks, fifty-three officersquarters, forty non-commissioned officers quarters, magazines,motor and materiel sheds, streets and sidewalks were built. Withthe planting of lawns, shrubs and trees, Fort Bragg began to take onthe appearance of one of the finest of all Army posts.

Ever aware of the need for friendly relations between the militarypersonnel and the surrounding civilian population, a new highwaywas built connecting the center of the Post with the limits of thereservation, making the Fort more accessible to the outside world.


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1932 saw the construction of the beautiful Post Hospital, as well asadditional barracks. The additional barracks were needed due tothe arrival of the 4 th Field Artillery from Camp Robinson, Arkansason June 9, 1931. And Fort Bragg became the headquarters for

District A of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which supervised thework and administration of approximately thirty-three camps in thetwo Carolinas during the Depression. Fort Bragg also served as atraining site for units of the National Reserve Officers TrainingCorps, Officers Reserve Corps and Citizens Military Training Corps.

Major General William J. Snow Camp Bragg completed on November 1918

Ariel of Camp Bragg, 1920

First Lieutenant Harley H. Pope


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General Albert J. Bowley

240 MM Howitzer

New Artillery Brick Barracks Post Hospital 1932


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Citizens Military Training Corps

1940s

By 1940 the Post had a population of 5,400, and had settled downinto a normal peacetime army routine. However, events in Europe,notably the defeat of France and the subjugation of most of Europe

by the Germans led to an increased need for security in the UnitedStates. Accordingly, the first peacetime conscription for militaryservice was instituted.

To handle the influx of new recruits, Fort Bragg undertook anexpanded construction program in August starting with a newRecruit Reception Center. Completed in just seventy-five days, theReception Center, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Earle C.Ewert, was ready to process 1,000 men daily. This rapid rateconstruction would turn Fort Bragg into one of the largest militaryinstallations in the United States within nine months. The troopsstationed here would increase from 5,400 to 67,000 by the summerof 1941.

More than 31,544 men were employed on Fort Bragg during thisconstruction period. 700 lumber mills throughout North and SouthCarolina worked overtime to furnish the daily lumber requirements.Payroll figures for one day topped out at $174,000.00 or at a rate of$140.00 per minute! The final cost of this expansion period was$44,681,309.00.


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Seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, these thousands ofmen, most of whom lived within a radius of ninety miles, workeddiligently to complete each phase on or ahead of schedule. The tworailroads that serviced the Post, the Cape Fear and the Atlantic

Coast Line, delivered an average of 65 carloads of supplies daily.For nine months workmen, interspersed crazily with soldiers intraining, pushed roads through pine forests, and erected buildingsat a rate of one every 32 minutes. This chaos was successfullyorchestrated by Commanding General Jacob L. Devers, and byAugust 1941, 2,739 new buildings were in use and the Field ArtilleryReplacement Center had grown to be the largest in the country.

Rivaling the Replacement Center project was the construction of

the cantonment for the Ninth Infantry Division, the largest unit atFort Bragg at that time. Covering approximately 500 acres, theDivision area was completed in exactly 107 days, and housed theentire division in 623 buildings.

In support of this hospitals, chapels, libraries, exchanges andservice clubs were all built during this period. Fort Bragg containedtwo laundries, a bakery with production capacity of 40,000 poundsof bread daily, a Post Office building and three large cold storageunits. Communication facilities were established and miles of roadwere built. Sewage lines and water mains were established. Powerlines and filtration plants were built.

Among units training at Fort Bragg were the 9 th Infantry Division; 2dArmored Division, 82d Airborne Division; 100 th Infantry Division; the13th , 22 nd and 34 th Artillery Brigades; and various field artillerygroups of the 13 th , and 22 nd Corps.

Fort Bragg was the first installation at which paratroopers were

taught the all-around defense of objectives seized by them,including bridgeheads, airfields and other strategic points.

The population of the post during the war years reached a peak of159,000 personnel, requiring 10,000 pounds of food each month. Bydirection of President Roosevelt in April 1942, Fort Bragg waschosen as the site for the newly activated Airborne Ground Forcesunder the command of Colonel William C. Lee. Stationed at FortBragg at this time were tank units, air corps, parachute infantry,ordnance, quartermaster, and engineers.


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On March 25, 1942, the 82d Infantry Division was reactivated atCamp Claiborne, Louisiana, with Brigadier General Omar Bradley ascommanding general and Brigadier General Matthew B. Ridgway asassistant commander. On August 15, 1942, with Major General

Matthew B. Ridgway commanding, the 82d Infantry Division, whichhad moved to Fort Bragg, was designated the 82d Airborne Division.

The 101 st Airborne Division was reactivated at Camp Claiborne,Louisiana on August 16, 1942 and half of the personnel of the 82dAirborne Division became the nucleus of the new 101 st AirborneDivision when it moved to Fort Bragg in October.

The first WAAC unit came to Fort Bragg on January 24, 1943. The37th Womens Army Auxiliary Corps took up duties in num erous

offices throughout the post, releasing many men holding non-combatant duties for field service.

A milestone in the progress of Airborne tactics was reached at FortBragg in early April 1943, when the 505 thParachute InfantryRegiment, commanded by Colonel James M. Gavin, made the firstcomplete regimental jump in United States history. Over 2,000 menparticipated in the achievement. Among those jumping was MajorGeneral Matthew B. Ridgway, 82d Division Commander.

Large numbers of German POWs came to Fort Bragg when a campwas established in May, 1944. A small number had come as early as1942, but had been transferred out. The prisoners were put to workin jobs similar to their civilian skills and were paid 80 cents a day.

Throughout the war years, Pope Army Air Field at Fort Bragg wasused primarily as a troop carrier training establishment. Extensiveglider training and large scale paratroop maneuvers were the majoroperations. During the war, Pope became one of the few bases in

the Army Air Corps to have contact with the enemy off our ownshores. A squadron of A-20s from Pope located and sank the firstGerman submarine off the shores of the United States.

Following WW II, Fort Bragg was again under scrutiny by the UnitedStates government for retention as a permanent post. In a studyconducted by the War Department, it was reported that since July,1940 the cost of Fort Bragg, including land and construction totaled$55,807,000. The study concluded that Fort Bragg was quitesatisfactory for post war retention, and on January 19, 1946, the82d Airborne Division returned from Europe and took up its station


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at Fort Bragg. This would be the first time an airborne unit waspermanently stationed here.

Recruits Inprocessing at Fort Bragg

Fort Bragg 1941

Over 31,544 Civilian Workers 9th Infantry Division Area


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Major General Matthew B. Ridgway Airborne Training Fort Bragg

Major General James M. Gavin

German Submarine

Colonel William C. Lee

Women's Army Auxiliary Corps


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The Returning 82d Airborne DivisionMarching in the New York Victory Parade

German Prisoners of War

1950s

From 1946 until the outbreak of the Korean Conflict in 1950, the82d Airborne Division was the only large unit on the post. Much ofthe post would remain in mothballs with the troops only occupyinga small portion.

Headquarters, V United States Army Corps came to Fort Bragg in1946. During the summer months V Corps and the 82d AirborneDivision furnished training and instruction to personnel of theNational Guards 30 th Infantry Division.

From 1946 to 1951, housing was extremely scarce in the Fort Bragg-Fayetteville area. Because of this, many of the unused barracks and


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hospital wards were converted into temporary family quarters.Family quarters were also found in the Smoke Bomb Hill area, andthe Butner Hospital area. A large trailer court was established onReilly Road near Pope Air Force Base. Due to the shortage of

housing in the area, reenlistment on the post sank to a very lowlevel. Under the Wherry Act, commercial enterprise built a largehousing area in 1950 and 1951 in what is now known as CorregidorCourts and Anzio Acres. This considerably relieved the housingshortage.

When hostilities erupted in Korea in June, 1950, Fort Bragg againassumed an outstanding role in the National Defense Program.Thousands of inductees, and members of the National Guard andArmy Reserve, were called to active duty and trained at Fort Bragg.

In July 1951, Headquarters, V Corps was transferred to Germany.The XVIII Airborne Corps under Lieutenant General John W. Leonardwas reactivated at Fort Bragg on May 21, 1951. With theheadquarters of the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 82d AirborneDivision and other units stationed here, Fort Bragg became widelyknown as the home of the airborne.

The Lee Field House was dedicated on May 14, 1951 in honor ofMajor General William C. Lee, who was known as the Father of theAirborne, and who was a former commander of the 101 st AirborneDivision.

In October 1951, the 11 th Airborne Division was attached to the XVIIIAirborne Corps. The Division was commanded by Major General L.L.Lemnitzer.

Lieutenant General John W. Leonard, XVIII Airborne Corps and FortBragg Commander, retired in January 1952. Major General Thomas

F. Hickey assumed command, becoming the first Airborne officer tocommand Fort Bragg.

The Psychological Warfare Center was established at Fort Bragg onApril 10, 1952. Its mission was to conduct individual training and tosupervise unit training in psychological warfare and Special Forcesoperations.

The 10 th Special Forces Group, the Armys first unconventionalwarfare unit, was activated on June 20, 1952, here at Fort Bragg.


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Also in 1952, Fort Bragg established its own airfield. Air trafficaround post had increased to the point where Pope Field wasovertaxed. The 406 th Engineer Brigade was called upon to constructthe airfield. The field was formally named in 1955 for Warrant

Officer Herbert W. Simmons, Jr.Womack Army Hospital was constructed at the post during the1957-58 period. The new hospital consisted of 500 beds with anexpansion capability to 1,000. The hospital was named after amedical corpsman from North Carolina who gave his life in theKorean Conflict to protect the lives of wounded soldiers in his care.

Additional construction at the post during the 1950s included anentirely new division-sized barracks area, two drive-in restaurants,

a bank, an NCO club for the 82d Airborne, four new elementaryschools, two football stadiums, and several swimming pools.Capehart type construction during the mid-1950s added many morehousing units to the post and it became possible to close up theconverted barracks quarters.

82d Airborne Division


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Lee Field House

Major General Thomas F. Hickey

Dedication ceremony for Simmons ArmyAirfield

Private First Class Brian C. Womack

New 82d Airborne Division Headquarters


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1960s

In 1961, one of the major events of the early sixties occurred withthe activation of the 5 th Special Forces Group (Airborne). This unitwas given the mission of training personnel in counterinsurgency fordeployment in Southeast Asia in the Republic of South Vietnam.Thus Fort Bragg was in the forefront of the US involvement in thewar in Vietnam.

September 23, 1961 saw the sculptress, Mrs. Leah Hiebert, wife ofa former deputy post chaplain, dedicate her statue of "Iron Mike"the airborne soldier. The fifteen-foot bronze statue, mounted upona twelve-foot pyramid, would guard the southern entrance to FortBragg at the intersection of Knox Street and Bragg Boulevard.

On July 11, 1963, Major General William C. Westmoreland arrivedto take command of Fort Bragg. Shortly after his arrival, hereceived his third star. He replaced Lieutenant General Hamilton H.Howze, who had been the Armys top commander in Korea.

In November 1963, Mrs. John F. Kennedy requested Special Forcessoldiers for participation in her husbands funeral. Forty -six Special

Forces soldiers from Fort Bragg were dispatched to Washington, DCto help bury the President.

The Third US Army Intelligence School, located at Fort Bragg,concluded its 16 th year of operation in August. The 519th MilitaryIntelligence Battalion administered the school.

On March 2, 1964, Lieutenant General J.W. Bowen replaced LGWilliam C. Westmoreland as Commander of XVIII Airborne Corps andFort Bragg. General Westmoreland became Deputy chief and laterChief of US Forces in Vietnam.

Also in 1964, Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, announcedthat the Special Warfare Center had been officially named for thelate President, John F. Kennedy.

In December 1964, Captain Hugh Donlon, 7 th Special Forces Group(Airborne), became the first American Soldier to be awarded theMedal of Honor for Vietnam. President Lyndon B. Johnson presentedthe medal to Captain Donlon.


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Training for Vietnam

Sculptress Leah Hiebert

LTG William C. Westmoreland CPT Hugh Donlon


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Alvin C. York Special Forces Soldier Statue

John F. Kennedy

1970s

The seventies era would find Fort Bragg drawing down the numberof troops being sent to the waning Vietnam War. 1972 marked theend of the draft and the beginning of the Volunteer Army.

Fort Bragg became home to the 1st

Corps Support Command(COSCOM) in June of 1972 when it assumed the role of the


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deactivated 12 th Support Brigade. COSCOM also willingly inheritedthe 12 th Support Brigade's mascot, Blackjack, the mule. Blackjackfrequently received callers at his quarters in the Fort Bragg Ridingstables.

To accommodate the "volunteer" soldiers and their families, newconstruction would be earmarked for family housing and communitysupport. The Main Post Commissary was constructed in 1974 whilethe Ardennes, Biazza Ridge and Bataan Family Housing areas werebuilt in 1975. And trips between Fort Bragg and downtownFayetteville became easier with the opening of the All AmericanExpressway.

Fort Bragg was also becoming a fun place for a kid to live with the

Youth Activities Center, the Main Post Bowling Lanes, the ClelandIce Skating Rink and an outdoor pool on Ardennes Street.

Fort Bragg, like any other Army post of the time, was forced to dealwith problems created by the Vietnam War. Foremost of these wasthe prevalence of drug use among the returning troops. LTG HenryEverett Emerson, nicknamed "Gunfighter", stringently compliedwith the Army policy of scheduled and random drug screenings.General Emerson even went a step farther and instituted the TIP(Turn-in-a-Pusher) Program. General Emerson also worked hard onwhipping the Fort Bragg volunteers into better physical shape witha rigorous PT program.

Lieutenant General Volney Warner closed the decade with hispersonal attention to giving a fair hearing to all the residents ofFort Bragg. He created the Lady Mayors of Fort Bragg, initiated theDial-6 BOSS program, and set up voting districts for the military andwives to be elected rather than appointed to the Board ofEducation. Due to an unfortunate incident of vandalism, General

Warner also ordered the removal of the Iron Mike statue from theintersection of Knox Street and Bragg Boulevard to its presentlocation on main post.


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Volunteer Army 1st COSCOM

New Commissary

LTG Henry Everett Emerson


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LTG Volney Warner Iron Mike on Bragg Boulevard

1980s

By 1989 Fort Bragg would employ 40,000 soldiers and more than8,000 civilians on its 140,618 acres. It is during this era that FortBragg earned its reputation as one of the Army's premier powerprojection platforms.

Beginning in 1983 with the 82d Airborne Division's successful no-notice deployment of two brigade-sized elements to Grenada, FortBragg was instrumental in rescuing American citizens and defeating,yet again, Communist aggression in the Caribbean.

As a show of force and to conduct stability operations, the 82dAirborne Division was sent to Honduras in 1988 for OperationGolden Pheasant, and in 1989 to Panama for Operation NimrodDancer.

Humanitarian/Disaster relief operations would be Fort Bragg's focusin September 1989 as XVIII Airborne Corps soldiers assisted St Croixin the US Virgin Islands after the devastation of Hurricane Hugo.

Even with so many of its troops on constant deployment, the postwould not be idle. Fort Bragg would pick up the pace ofconstruction to make the soldiers and their families proud to bestationed here.


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The Albritton Junior High School was completed in 1983, followedby the Fernandez and Rodriquez Child Development Centers in1985. In 1987 Gavin Hall was built to house the 82d AirborneDivision Administration and the Division itself moved into Ridgway

Hall. The Ritz-Epps state-of-the-art Gym began keeping theDivision's soldiers in top physical shape in 1987 as well.

The 5 th Special Forces group departed Fort Bragg for Fort Campbell,Kentucky in 1986, while the 7 th Special Forces Group moved intonew quarters off Yadkin Road in 1989.

This era would not end on a quiet note. In December 1989 FortBragg once again threw itself whole-heartedly into deploying the82d Airborne Division to Panama for Operation Just Cause. It was

with justifiable pride that the Post learned of the Division'ssuccessful combat jump into Panama--its first since World War II.

Paratrooper in Grenada Ridgway Hall


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Hurricane Hugo

Special Forces Solider

82d Airborne Paratrooper

1990s

The last decade of the 20 th century found Fort Bragg engaged inrepeated power projection efforts. To counter Iraqi aggression inSouthwest Asia, Fort Bragg worked around the clock to deploy XVIIIAirborne Corps. The August 1990 success of speeding Corps troopsto Saudi Arabia to "draw the line in the sand" was bittersweet as


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Fort Bragg assumed an eerie ghost town appearance with minimumpersonnel left behind.

The Post had hardly had time to enjoy the victory in the desertwhen a natural disaster galvanized the community in helping Corpssoldiers help the world. In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew strucksouthern Florida and Fort Bragg helped rush Corps troops to thescene to provide humanitarian assistance.

Tragedy would draw Fort Bragg even closer to Fayetteville and thesurrounding civilian communities. On March 23, 1994, whileattempting to land at Pope Air Force Base, an F-16 fighter collidedin mid-air with a C-130 cargo plane forcing the pilot and passengerto eject. The fighter then went on to collide with a C-141 on the

tarmac. The resulting explosion and fireball killed twenty-foursoldiers and wounded one hundred others as they waited at GreenRamp to board planes for a training jump. Fort Bragg immediatelywent into high gear to treat the wounded and notify the families.Fayetteville also extended a generous helping hand to the shockedand grieving soldiers and their families.

Fort Bragg helped launch the largest airborne operation since WorldWar II in September 1994. 3,800 paratroopers from the 82dAirborne Division were deployed to Haiti to reinstate the dulyelected President, Jean Aristide. In deference to the fierce fightingreputation of the All Americans, the de facto government agreed toterms rather than be on the receiving end of the air drop.

The heightened OPTEMPO of the nineties exposed certaininefficiencies in the way Fort Bragg conducted business. This wascorrected in 1996 with a major reorganization of the Garrison intofive Business Centers. By 1997 the Readiness Business Center, theInstallation Business Office, the Information Technology Business

Center, the Community Activities and Services Business Center, thePublic Works Business Center and the Public Safety Business Centerwere fully operational and ready to meet the challenge of housingand deploying America's contingency force.

The Fort Bragg would devote all of its efforts in the waning years ofthe 1990s to smoothing the transition to the twenty-first century.With the changing mission of the United States Army the Posteagerly concentrated on improving the quality of life for its soldiersand families, serving as an environmental steward for its increasedacreage and serving as the premier power projection platform ofAmerica's elite soldiers.


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Many veterans returning to Fort Bragg during this era weredismayed to find most of their World War II wooden barracks gone.In an effort to improve the quality of life for the twenty-firstcentury soldier, Fort Bragg aggressively pursued a barracks

construction/renovation program.The modernization of Fort Bragg began quietly in 1990 with a newMain Post Exchange and would accelerate throughout the decade toinclude the Devers Elementary School and the Prager and CookChild Development Centers in 1994. The Post became moreaccessible in 1997 with the All American Expressway expansion fromReilly to Longstreet. And for those readers on Post, the opening ofthe new Throckmorton Library was also a welcome event.

For those living on Fort Bragg during 1998, it was hard to find onearea of Post that wasn't undergoing change. From the removal ofwooden barracks to building construction/renovation throughexpansion of training areas into the newly purchased Overhills site,Fort Bragg would close out this century with a fresh appearance anda firm resolve to meet the next century with equal drive.

Desert Storm Soldier

Homestead Air Force Base, FL


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Accident at Pope Air Force Base President Jean Aristide

Unveiling of New Business Center Holland Barracks


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New Mail Post Exchange

"Iron Mike", The Airborne Trooper Statue

Documents

Fort Bragg History