President Trump paid tribute to fallen US service members and took a dig at his predecessor during a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery in which he vowed to “never forget our debt” to the men and women in uniform.
“We certainly know what we owe to them,” the president said during his address. “Their valor gave us the freest, greatest, and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth, a republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years.”
“Who would let that happen?” Trump continued. “People pouring through our borders unchecked. People doing things that are indescribable and not for today to discuss. But the republic is now doing so very well.”
Trump did not name former President Joe Biden directly, but the references to his onetime rival were unmistakable.
In between honoring departed service members, Trump touted America’s 250th birthday, which will be celebrated July 4, 2026; that summer’s soccer World Cup jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico; and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“We’re going to have a big, big celebration, as you know, 250 years,” Trump, 78, said before appearing to go off-script: “In some ways, I’m glad I missed that second term [by losing to Biden in 2020] where it was because I wouldn’t be your president. In addition, we have the World Cup, and we have the Olympics.”
“Can you imagine? I missed that in four years, and now look what I have — I have everything,” he continued. “God did that.”
Trump also recognized three service members who died in America’s modern conflicts:
- Air Force SMSgt. Elroy Harworth of Erhard, Minn., whose plane was shot down over North Vietnam on May 31, 1966, and whose remains were repatriated and identified 20 years later.
- Army Cpl. Ryan C. McGhee of Fredericksburg, Va., killed on May 13, 2009, while fighting in Iraq
- Navy CTTC Shannon M. Kent of Pine Plains, NY, killed on Jan. 16, 2019, by an ISIS suicide bomber in Manbij, Syria and was posthumously promoted to chief petty officer.
“These warriors picked up the mantle of duty and service, knowing that to live for others meant always that they might die for others,” Trump said. “They asked nothing. They gave everything. And we owe them everything and much, much more.”
“Thank you for giving America the brightest light in your lives,” Trump told families of the fallen. “It’s what you’ve done. We will never ever forget our fallen heroes, and we will never forget our debt to you.”
Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also delivered remarks at the midday ceremony, which was preceded by a wreath-laying at Arlington’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Vance, a Marine Corps veteran, argued that the US “ought to commit ourselves and expect from our leaders to treat the lives of our troops as the most precious resource.”
“The second way that I try to honor the fallen is to commit ourselves to being worthy of their sacrifice,” he added. “If you’re a husband, be the best husband you can be. If you’re a mom, be the best mom that you can be. If you’re a citizen, be the very best citizen that you can be.”
Hegseth reiterated a frequent line of his that the “American soldier fights not because he hates what’s in front of him, but because he loves what’s behind him.”
“We owe a duty to those who have fallen in war,” Hegseth said. “They have paid a debt we can never repay, and for that, we owe gratitude and remembrance.”
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