Trump Honors Fallen by Giving Veterans Day New Russian Name

President Donald Trump declared on Tuesday that he was giving Veterans Day a new name while speaking at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

“As you know today is not only Veterans Day, but it’s my proclamation that we are now going to be saying and calling Victory Day for World War I,” Trump said.

The president said he was recently at an event and saw that European countries were celebrating Victory Day, but the U.S. was not.

“I saw France was celebrating another Victory Day for World War II, and other countries were celebrating,” Trump rambled. “They were all celebrating. We’re the one that won the wars.”

President Donald Trump speaks during a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia on November 11, 2025. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Moments later the president rattled off watching other countries observing the holiday by that name.

“I watched it. I watched UK. I watched Russia. They were celebrating Victory Day World War II, and I said ‘we got to have a Victory Day.’ Nobody even talked about it in our country,” Trump said.

“From now on we’re going to be celebrating Victory Day for World War I, for World War II and frankly for everything else,” he declared.

President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance salute during a ceremony at Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery to mark Veterans Day on November 11, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day) is a holiday on May 8 marking the end of World War II in Europe when Nazi Germany surrendered.

Russia’s Victory Day on May 9 is an annual holiday that commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Germany in World War II.

European countries mark the end of World War I with Armistice Day of November 11. The date is marked in the U.S. with Veterans Day and by Commonwealth countries as Remembrance Day.

Tuesday was not the first time Trump has signaled he wanted to rename Veterans Day. He also brought it up in a Truth Social post on May 1.

“I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I,” Trump wrote. “We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything.”

On Tuesday, the president renewed his call for it to be named 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,” Trump said. “Maybe some day somebody else will add a couple more because we won a lot of good ones.”

The U.S. first marked November 11 as Armistice Day with a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. It was formally recognized to commemorate the end of World War I with a resolution in 1926 and became a legal holiday in 1938.

In 1954, the holiday was renamed to honor all American Veterans with Veterans Day. The change was signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower who issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation that fall.

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