WASHINGTON — President Trump announced Tuesday that Veterans Day will be known also as “Victory Day for World War I” — citing the US role in forcing Germany’s surrender on November 11, 1918.
“Today is not only Veterans Day, but it’s my proclamation that we are now going to be saying and calling [it] Victory Day for World War I,” Trump said in a speech at Arlington National Cemetery.
“I saw France was celebrating ‘victory day’, but we didn’t. And I saw France was celebrating another ‘victory day’ for World War II, and other countries were celebrating. They were all celebrated. We’re the one that won the wars.”
Trump previously floated the idea in a May post on Truth Social, which designated May 8 as Victory Day for World War II, but it seemed he may have reconsidered when the official written proclamation for Veterans Day, released Monday, omitted the new designation.
“From now on, we’re going to say Victory Day for World War I and World War II. And we could do for plenty of other wars, but we’ll start with those two. Maybe someday somebody else will add a couple of more, because we won a lot of good ones,” Trump said.
“But when I see other countries celebrating victory day, I watched it. I watched UK. I watched Russia. They were celebrating victory day… and I said, ‘We got to have a Victory Day.’ Nobody even talked about it in our country.”
Trump made the announcement after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — as strong winds made for an unseasonably frigid event.
Trump wore a scarf and gloves as wind gusts of about 16 miles per hour made the wind chill below freezing at the outdoor ceremony. He was joined by Vice President JD Vance, a veteran of the Iraq War, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.
“Our heroes have lived through unthinkable nightmares so we could live the American dream — and the American dream is coming back again, stronger than ever before, and you’ll see that as the next few years evolve,” Trump said.
Trump celebrated Congress inching closer to ending the 42-day government shutdown, which has snarled air travel, caused 1.4 million federal workers to go without pay and put in limbo food-stamp payments for nearly 42 million people.
“We’re opening up our country. Should have never been closed,” he said in wide-ranging remarks, including recognizing a wounded soldier he had visited at the Walter Reed military hospital.
The visit was Trump’s only scheduled event Tuesday as he promises a “quick” reopening after enough Senate Democrats capitulated to pass a temporary funding bill running through Jan. 30.
The US Army-run cemetery contains about 400,000 remains and is located just across the Potomac River from Washington.
The sprawling graveyard is located on the former family estate of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, whose father-in-law — and George Washington’s step-grandson — George Washington Parke Custis built its imposing mansion.
The traffic circle approaching the cemetery, within sight of the Lincoln Memorial, is the proposed site of a triumphal arch that Trump is considering erecting next year in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
