(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump honored veterans Tuesday with a wreath-laying ceremony and delivered remarks at Arlington National Cemetery to mark Veterans Day.
Trump was alongside Vice President JD Vance and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins as he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
After the ceremony, Vance, a former Marine, introduced Trump to the audience in the Memorial Amphitheater.
“Today, to every veteran — we love our veterans — we say the words too often left unsaid: Thank you for your service. Thank you,” Trump said. “Thank you for carrying America’s fate on your strong, very broad, proud shoulders.”
Trump highlighted several stories of U.S. service members. He also acknowledged several Cabinet members who attended this Veterans Day speech, including Secretaries Pete Hegseth, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, Linda McMahon and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Trump’s speech comes as the House prepares to take up a Senate-passed bill on Wednesday to reopen the federal government. If passed, it will then head to Trump’s desk.
How members of the military would be paid during the shutdown added to the pressure on lawmakers to move the deal forward.
Trump urges national ‘Victory Day’
During his remarks, Trump noted that several countries hold annual celebrations marking victories in World War I and World War II, which the U.S. has not typically observed.
“They were all celebrating, we’re the ones that won the wars,” Trump said, signaling out France as an example, while also referencing the United Kingdom and Russia.
“When I see other countries celebrating Victory Day — I watched it. I watched the U.K., I watched Russia, they were celebrating Victory Day in World War II, and I said, ‘We got to have a Victory Day,'” Trump said. “Nobody even talked about it in our country. But from now on, we’re going to be celebrating Victory Day.”
Earlier this year, Trump said he wanted to rename Veterans Day to “Victory Day for World War I Day.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that Veterans Day would not be renamed but that the new holiday would “just be an additional proclamation.”
Veterans Day remains intact and largely unaffected by the expected proclamation from Trump.
Trump previously said the country would not be closing for the two “very important Holidays” because “we already have too many Holidays in America — There are not enough days left in the year.”