Fort Bragg
Camp Bragg came into existence on 4 September 1918. Camp Bragg was named for a native North Carolinian, General Braxton Bragg.
Congress decided in February 1922 that all artillery sites east of the Mississippi River would become permanent Army posts. The camp was redesignated as Fort Bragg, September 30, 1922.
The fort grew slowly, reaching a total of 5,400 soldiers by the summer of 1940. With the threat of World War II and passage of the Selective Service act, a reception station was built here and Fort Bragg exploded to a population of 67,000 soldiers within a year. In 1942, the first airborne units trained here in preparation for combat. All five World War II airborne divisions the 82nd, 101st, 11th, 13th and 17th, trained in the Fort Bragg-Camp Mackall area.
The 82d Airborne Division was assigned here in 1946, upon its return form Europe. In 1951, XVIII Airborne Corps was reactivated here and Fort Bragg became widely known as the "home of the airborne."
More than 200,000 young men underwent basic combat training here during 1966-70. At the peak of the Vietnam War in 1968, Fort Braggs military population rose to 57,840. July 1, 1973, Fort Bragg came under the U.S. Army Forces Command headquartered at Fort McPherson, GA.
Today Fort Bragg and neighboring Pope Air Force Base form one of the largest military complexes in the world.
