President Trump and Vice President JD Vance Deliver Remarks

Distinguished guests, the President of the United States, accompanied by the Vice President. [01:00] Distinguished guests, please remain standing for the procession of our nation's colors and those of our veteran service organizations. As we march on the colors, the United States Army Band will play the National Emblem March. Please place your right hand over your heart or render a hand salute. [03:32] Distinguished guests, please remain standing for the invocation given by Chaplain Kimberly Willis, Executive Director of Chaplain Service for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Good morning. Let us pray. Eternal and ever faithful God, on this sacred morning beneath the quiet majesty of these marble arches, we gather in this hallowed place to pay tribute, to reflect and to recommit. We come before you as a grateful nation, mindful of those who have donned the uniform, answered the call, and stood in the breach on behalf of freedom. You who chart the course of every life know each one who answered to the distant horizon, to the storm-tossed sea, to the far-off watch. You have seen the quiet courage and the visible sacrifice, the sleepless nights, the lonely return, the unspoken burdens. You have carried the tears of family, the prayers of caregivers, and the hope of a grateful people. We remember those who fell whose names rest beneath these stones, silent sentinels of our nation's promise. We remember those who yet bear in body or spirit the cost of service. Grant them your healing, your strength and your peace. And to families who waited, who worried, who bore the weight of absence, extend your sustaining grace, Oh Comforter. We give thanks for the Department of Veterans Affairs who daily honor our nation's sacred trust, and we bless the veteran service organizations whose devotion ensures that no veteran stands alone. In honor of those who served, renew our covenant to tend the garden of democracy with vigilance and care. To serve with humility, to lead with integrity, to walk together as one people under your guiding hand. Underpin our labors with hope, our words with truth, our action with compassion. Let freedom ring not only on the battlefield, but in the everyday lives of your people. God bless the United States of America that we may be true to the promise entrusted to us, vigilant in peace, resolute in service, defender of justice, and steadfast in gratitude. It is in your holy name we pray. Amen.

Please be seated. I am honored to introduce the 2025 National Veterans Day Observance co-host organization, the American Veterans, better known as AMVETS. The organization began in 1944 when 18 World War II veterans met in Kansas City, Missouri, to form the American Veterans of World War II. Just three years later, President Harry S. Truman signed Public Law 216, making AMVETS the first World War II veterans group chartered by Congress. Over the decades, its charter expanded to include those who served in every era, from World War II to today, including members of the National Guard and Reserves. Today, AMVETS focuses on critical veterans' issues, such as mental health, suicide prevention, and ensuring women veterans receive equal recognition and opportunities. Representing AMVETS today is National Commander Paul Shippley, a US Army combat veteran who served from 2004 to 2014, including a deployment to Iraq. Commander Shippley is the first post-9/11 veteran and one of the youngest leaders in AMVETS' 80-year history. Please join me in welcoming National Commander of AMVETS and co-host of today's ceremony, Mr. Paul Shippley, who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and deliver remarks. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [08:02] Good morning, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Secretary Collins, and distinguished leaders of the veteran service organizations of the United States of America. Good morning and Happy Veterans Day. Today, as we gather at this hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery, we honor the brave men and women who have served our nation with unwavering courage and sacrifice. It is a solemn moment of remembrance, unity, and a renewal of our commitment to those that have served. Today is also a special celebration of all who put their lives on the line for the United States of America. AMVETS has a proud history spanning over 80 years. Today, our top priorities remain clear. We work tirelessly to prevent veteran suicide and veteran homelessness because no veteran should be alone in facing these struggles. We promote awareness of prisoners of war and missing-in-action issues, ensuring that no hero is ever forgotten. And we are committed to supporting veterans' families, help keeping them united through life's toughest challenges. As the host of this year's Veterans Day National Committee, AMVETS is honored to participate alongside dedicated Department of Veterans Affairs staff and our fellow veteran service organizations. Together, we organized this event to honor our fallen and to reaffirm our duty to those who have served. In the spirit of veterans serving veterans, I challenge each of us, whether here today or watching from home, to find ways to support our veterans. Whether through a simple act of kindness, volunteering, or advocating for policies that make a difference, your efforts matter. Because supporting our veterans is not just a duty; it's a reflection of our gratitude and respect. Let us remember today that their sacrifices have made the freedoms we enjoy possible. And let us pledge to continue serving, protecting, and honoring all who have served our nation. Thank you, God bless our veterans, and God bless America. [10:36] It is now my humble honor to introduce the 12th Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Secretary Doug Collins is an accomplished attorney with more than a decade of legislative experience representing the people of Georgia in the state legislature and later the US House of Representatives. As a US Air Force Reserve chaplain, Secretary Collins has ministered to our country's military since 2002. He completed a 2008 and 2009 deployment to Iraq while stationed at Balad Air Base. Collins remains a colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve and he previously served in the US Navy Reserve. Please join me in warmly welcoming VA Secretary Doug Collins.

Good morning, everyone. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, all the VSOs, all of our veteran staff here today, and welcome you to a place in which we honor our veterans, those who have served. I tell you, it was an honor to be here, but it was an even bigger honor just over a year ago when President asked me to take this job. And I asked him a simple question, I said, 'Mr. President, what would you like me to do?' And he looked at me with a simple phrase, he said, 'Take care of our veterans.' I tell all the rest of the cabinet, I've got the best job in the world because I get to take care of the best people in the world, the veterans of the United States of America. And this President is firmly committed to making sure this happens. The VA is in a different place today than it was just nine months ago. Nine months ago there was more of an inner reflection, now it is an outer reflection. The only thing that matters at the VA is that the veteran comes first. All we do is not about a bureaucracy or where we're from, it's about the veteran who walks through our door. Without the veteran, we have no job. The VA now understands that we do nothing else except take care of the veteran and do things for them. And under that direction from the President, we have lowered backlogs, we have increased wait times, and yes, Mr. President, we get them to community when they want to go to the community to see those doctors. And that's all in just in the first nine months. But the best part of this is that there is something to understand is that Veterans Day, unlike the others we celebrate, is about everyday people doing extraordinary things. Veterans Day is about men and women who come from small towns, hamlets, villages, and big towns. And they make a decision in their life to raise their right hand and say, 'I'm committing to something bigger than myself. I am stepping forward where many will not. I'm raising my right hand and committing myself to service to a country,' as I said just the other day, to make and ensure that our military is the biggest and baddest in the world. Our veterans make that possible. It comes from people all over, as I served with in Iraq. What I love about Veterans Day is it tells the story of a young girl, she was in her early 20s. I met her on the fields in a wind just like this in the desert of Iraq. She had showed up late, and I was on the night chaplain run and I'd always saw everybody else but I didn't recognize her. And I walked up to the gate and she said, 'Hello, sir.' I said, 'Where have you been?' I said, 'I haven't seen you here.' She said, 'Sir, I'm a little bit late deploying with my troops.' I said, 'Well, what was the reason?' and I figured I said, 'You know you could,' I figured, 'Why are you coming in three or four weeks later?' She said, 'Well, sir, just about two months ago, I had my daughter.' And I looked at her and I said, 'And you came anyway?' I said, 'You know you could probably got a deferment there.' She said, 'No, sir.' She said, 'I go where my troops go. I go where they go.' And she that for the rest of the time I was there, we shared pictures of one growing up, a little one taking first crawls and moves, and sharing it in a night sky over Iraq. That is a veteran who serves because they want to serve others. I remember an A1C who was on deployment, he came back and he said, 'I'm now making big money.' He said, 'I can actually help my family and I can buy Christmas presents for those that didn't get any last year.' It's about the stories of those as a young man, and just a little bit young because he's in his 80s, at one of our VA hospitals in hospice, who I walked in on him just the other day and he was playing on a keyboard, 'Just a Closer Walk with Thee.' Veterans Day is about veterans that were not special necessarily when they came up, but they saw a vision and a calling and they said, 'I want to be a part of our armed services.' So when they raised their hand, they made a choice to become one of our favorite in the world, and that is a veteran who serves this country. So as we come to this day of service, this day of happy Thanksgiving for people who are willing to serve, I would just have one word from the behalf of this administration, and I want everyone to hear it clearly, whether you're in the media, Congress, or anywhere else. I'm a little bit tired of people saying that veterans keep getting stuff. Nope, veterans do not get anything from this country, they have earned everything that they are getting, and I'm committed to making sure they will always have that from this administration and this VA, and that is my promise and this President's promise to you. [16:11] And with that, it is my honor to introduce to you a father, a husband, and yes, for those in the audience, a Marine. Oh come on, Marines! There we go, my Marines didn't let me down on this one, because now I get to introduce the great Vice President of the United States. It is his honor, it is his Marine, and I'm making him wait just a minute. It is Mr. Vice President, he's ready to go. JD, I hope you hit 'em hard. Thank you.

Well thank you, Doug, you're doing a great job at the VA, and I want to say just a couple of things. I've learned a couple of things from working so closely with the President of the United States. The first thing is that he loves our nation's veterans and is committed in our nation's administration to putting our veterans first every single day. And the second thing I've learned about the President of the United States is that he really hates when somebody who's speaking before him goes on for too long. And so with that in mind, I have prepared a very brief and very inspiring one hour and 45 minute speech on this beautiful Veterans Day out here in the cold. But let me just give three very brief messages. First, to our nation's veterans: thank you. Thank you for serving and sacrificing. We've all got so many good stories of people that we served with over the years. During my four years in the Marine Corps, I met the very best of America, people who were willing to put on a uniform and risk their lives for their entire country. Just yesterday morning I met people who lost limbs, who lost very, very important family members, who lost their psychological health, going out there and serving the United States of America. So whether you gave a little bit or whether you gave a lot, every single person who put on the uniform of this nation deserves our gratitude, on this day especially, but every day. And so from the Vice President and the entire administration to our nation's veterans: thank you for your service, thank you for your sacrifice, and thank you for making us proud every single day. The second message is to the nation's political leaders. I happen to believe that the most valuable resource that we have isn't the incredible wealth of natural resources of this country, as amazing as it is. The most important natural resource that we have is that we have hundreds of thousands of young people every single month who sign up to put on the uniform and risk their lives for their fellow citizens. That is a resource we cannot squander, that is a resource we must protect. And so to every elected official who's here today, our obligation, our sacred responsibility to our veterans is to make sure that the American military is the bravest and best fighting force anywhere in the world, and to make sure that every time we ask our nation's military to go off to war, we give them the training, we give them the resources, and we give them what they need to kick the enemy's rear end and to come back home safely and quickly. That is our obligation to you. And my third and final message to the American people. I'm asked all the time how to best honor our veterans, and this day in particular gives you an opportunity and it doesn't have to be difficult and it doesn't have to be complicated. If you find yourself at a restaurant this evening and you see somebody wearing a uniform, buy 'em a meal if you're able, or buy 'em a beer. If you see a veteran of our nation's armed forces, if you know somebody in your family, give 'em a call and say thank you. I heard already this morning from my mother-in-law who sent me a message early California time and it touched my heart just knowing that we have loved ones who recognize our service, who care about it, and who care enough to go out and say thank you. So to the American people, if we want to keep on ensuring that the very best and brightest sign up for our military, the very best way to do it is to make sure that the veterans know that we are grateful to them. [20:32] And so it's with great pride that I am introducing a man who is proud of our veterans, who fights every single day for the veterans, and who is proud to be the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, President Donald J. Trump.

Thank you, JD. Thank you very much to our great Vice President. That was a good decision I made. This morning on these hallowed grounds where generations of American heroes rest in eternal glory, we gather to fulfill the sacred duty of every free man and woman. On Veterans Day, we honor those who have worn the uniform, who have borne the battle, who have stood to watch, and whose ranks have formed the mighty wall of flesh and blood, bravery and devotion that has defended our freedom for 250 years. Today, to every veteran, we love our veterans, we say the words too often left unsaid: thank you for your service. Thank you very much. And we want to also say thank you for carrying America's fate on your strong, very broad and proud shoulders. Each of you has earned the respect and the gratitude of our entire nation. We love you, we salute you, and we will never forget what you have done to keep America safe, sovereign and free. Thank you very much. And we're also honored to be joined by a great man, he will go down as a great man someday, Speaker Mike Johnson. Speaker! Wherever you may be, Speaker. We love you, Speaker. There he is right there. Good, got a good location. He always gets a good location. And congratulations to you and to John and to everybody on a very big victory. We're opening up our country, should have never been closed. Should have never been closed. I want to thank Secretary Doug Collins, who's outstanding, just done a fantastic job for the veterans. We have a 92 percent approval rating, we took that up from 38 percent from a certain previous administration that we won't mention. Also, Secretary of War, we like the sound of that better than the other, Secretary Pete Hegseth. Pete, thank you very much. Thank you, Pete, great job. Our great Attorney General Pam Bondi. Pam, thank you very much. Thank you. Secretary Doug Burgum. Doug, thank you. Thank you very much for being here, Doug. The number one energy person anywhere in the world acknowledged, I was I was amazed that he took the job and he did it without hesitation, what he gave up, what Doug gave up, what all of them gave up, nobody would ever know. But Secretary Chris Wright, number one anywhere in the world acknowledged, and drill, baby, drill, Chris, right? Drill, baby, drill. The energy prices are way down and they're going further. Secretary Linda McMahon, Education, moving education back to the states, Linda, right? Get it back to the states where it belongs. Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, thank you, Lori, very much. Director Russ Vought, Director Russ, thank you. What a good job he's doing, cutting, cutting, cutting, but fairly cutting. Director Tulsi Gabbard, thank you, Director. Ambassador Jameson Greer. What a job he's done. We've taken in trillions of dollars in tariffs and we want to keep it that way. It's been good for our country, I can tell you, including national security. General Dan Caine. General, thank you. He's a real general. And congratulations on wiping out the nuclear capability of Iran in about a matter of seconds once they got there. They traveled a total of 37 hours, but once they got there they were very quick. And also to many other very distinguished guests we have, an amazing group of people. I'd like to name every one of you, but I think a lot of people would be upset, it's a little cold. The pages of American history are filled with the tales of titans, icons, innovators and trailblazers who built this country into the greatest, most ambitious and most prosperous nation the world has ever seen. And we brought it to new levels, I'll tell you. We were going in the wrong direction for a period of time, but we've never been hotter than we are right now. This is the hottest country anywhere in the world. Yet every captain of industry, every pioneer of science, and every star whose brilliance has lit up the lights of Broadway all share one thing in common: they only had the chance to soar because the veterans had the courage to serve. They took care of those people. They took care of all the stars. The stars that you read about wouldn't be here without our veterans. Everything we have, everything our country has achieved, has been purchased by the muscle, spine and steel of the United States military. We owe it all to the fierce and noble men and women of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines. There's a guy! Our service members are own words are the greatest possible tribute to their immortal valor. Shortly before the Battle of Bull Run, Major Sullivan Ballou of Rhode Island became a big name, didn't he? He wrote to his dear wife Sarah. He said, 'I know how great a debt we owe to those who went before us,' he said, 'and I'm willing, perfectly willing, darling, to lay down all my joys of this life to help maintain this government and to pay that debt.' Only one just one week later, Major Ballou did just that. He gave his life to save our country. On the night before he jumped into the dark skies over Normandy on D-Day, Colonel Bull Wolverton knelt with his men in prayer. 'Dear God,' he said, 'we ask only this: that if we die, we must die, and we as men would die without complaining, without pleading, and safe in the feeling that we have done our best for what we believed was right. We must do what is right.' Colonel Wolverton too died for us so bravely in battle. Today, we remember with overwhelming gratitude the more than one million American service members who have made the supreme sacrifice and laid down their lives for the good old USA. Generation after generation, America's warriors have left behind the comforts of home and family to face violence, evil and death so that our families could know joy, goodness and peace. We honor them so strongly. 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. They have volunteered to give their last breath to all of us so that we could breathe free. And today we know without any doubt in our hearts that after two and a half centuries, America stands tall because America's veterans stood so strong. And soon our country will be stronger than ever before. The American veteran has forged a legacy of gallantry and daring without parallel in human history. In September 2009, Army Captain William Swenson was driving through the Afghan mountains when his convoy was ambushed by over 60 Taliban insurgents. He and his comrades were pinned down for hours without artillery or air support. A fellow soldier was shot in the chest and Captain Swenson crossed an open field to aid his brother-in-arms. People said, 'Don't do it, Captain. Don't do it.' He did it. When the terrorists closed in around them and demanded their surrender, Captain Swenson threw a grenade at the enemy and rallied his men to break their advance. He then carried the wounded soldiers hundreds of yards to a rescue helicopter before charging back three times, back and forth, back and forth into the fire to save the wounded and bring them home. Even after seven hours of fighting, he refused to leave any man behind. Retired Lieutenant Colonel William Swenson is here with us in Arlington, and for his actions that day he proudly wears the Congressional Medal of Honor. Colonel Swenson, thank you very much. Thank you very much, please. Thank you very much. Thank you. The ultimate honor. Thank you. Another person who shows the metal of the American veteran is Dale Stoval. As an Air Force helicopter pilot in Vietnam, Captain Stoval was assigned to rescue a downed American airman deep in hostile territory. Despite the extreme peril, Captain Stoval took off in his HH-53C helicopter and soon came under intense fire forcing him to turn back. But the Captain refused to abandon his mission. The next day he willingly plunged back into the danger while taking fire from all directions. He didn't have a chance, he felt, but he said, 'I gotta do it.' He rescued the downed American pilot who had been stranded on the ground for 23 days and brought him back home alive, completing the deepest rescue behind enemy lines in the entire Vietnam War. For this and 11 other harrowing rescues, he was brave guy, Dale received the famous Air Force Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Silver Stars, making him the fourth most combat-decorated Air Force Academy grad of all time. He retired as a Brigadier General after 31 years of service. General Stoval, you are a legend. Please, thank you, General Stoval. Thank you very much. Thank you. You look good, General. You look I wish I looked that good. You look good. Thank you very much, General. America's warriors never quit, never surrender. They fight, fight, fight, and they win, win, win. That's what we do. We win battles. 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. Victory Day. You know, I was recently at an event and 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. They're all celebrating. We're the one that won the wars. And I said, 'From now on we're going to say Victory Day for World War I and World War II.' And we can 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. But when I see other countries celebrating Victory Day, I watched it. I watched UK, I watched Russia, they was celebrating Victory Day World War II. And I said, 'We gotta have a Victory Day. Nobody even talked about it in our country.' But from now on we're going to be celebrating Victory Day for World War I, for World War II, and frankly for everything else. Under the Trump administration, we're restoring the pride and the winning spirit of the United States military. That's why we have officially renamed the Department of Defense back to the original name, Department of War. And remember we won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything in between, we won everything that came before, and then we brilliantly decided to change the name of this great this great thing that we all created together and we became politically correct. We don't like being politically correct. So we're not going to be politically correct anymore. From now on, when we fight a war, we only fight for one reason: to win. We fight to win. And under my leadership, we're also fighting for the great veterans who have always, always been there for us, and especially when we needed them and needed them most. In nine months, the Trump administration has cut the backlog of VA benefit claims in half. That's a big achievement, and Doug is going to get it down to zero. During the Biden administration, the backlog exploded like we had never seen before. And I'm going to eliminate 100 percent of that backlog. We're moving at that pace. And already we processed more than 3 million backlog claims, the most of any year in the history of the VA. We've added more than 1 million extra service hours across the VA centers, and we've opened 20 new facilities in 13 states. Something that people said just not possible to do. We also have brought back VA Choice and VA Accountability, taken away by the Biden administration, so that when you have to wait on line, you go out and you get yourself a doctor, we pay for the doctor, you don't have to wait. And the other thing is we fired thousands of people who didn't take care of our our great veterans. They were sadists, they were sick people, they were thieves, they were everything you want to name, and we got rid of over 9,000 of them. And then when Biden came in, he hired 'em back, many of them. But we got rid of 'em and I think we got rid of 'em permanently. We replaced them with people who love our veterans, not people who are sick people. We're also confronting the challenge of veterans' homelessness, and earlier this year I signed an order establishing the National Center for Warrior Independence to house up to 6,000 veterans in need, and we will not stop until we have ended the tragedy of homeless veterans once and for all. I'd see in New York where people that came into our country illegally, they came in illegally, would be put up in hotels and veterans would be sitting on the sidewalk outside of that hotel where these other people are put in. And many of the people that came in were put in from prisons, they were murderers, they were drug dealers, they were people that we didn't want in our country. They were staying in hotels, luxury hotels, and our veterans were sitting on the sidewalks watching them go in. I said that's never going to happen under this administration. I also signed the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act because no veteran should be kicked out of their home for what they call a late payment. It's not happening. And I'm pleased to report that since January, the veteran unemployment rate has fallen by more than 26 percent. That's amazing. Worked hard on that. And I also want to give a very special thanks to all of the veteran service organizations that work so hard, they're all represented here today. But they work so hard on behalf of our great veterans. And one of the heroes who reminds us of why we fight for those who served in uniform is Army Major and West Point grad Jonathan Turnbull. In 2019, Jonathan was conducting an operation in Syria when a suicide bomber approached and detonated his vest, leaving Jonathan gravely wounded. So, so badly wounded they thought he had no chance. The injuries were so severe the doctors gave him everybody they just looked they they all cried, they knew him, they loved him and they were just crying. They said, 'No chance.' He was resuscitated three separate times and underwent he underwent 22 surgeries. But he refused to give up, he wanted to live. He loved this country, he loved his family, he wanted to live. He was going through hell. I visited Jonathan at Walter Reed in 2020, remember it so well, and today I'm delighted to say that Jonathan is not only alive, he is here with us back on his feet and living a great life alongside his beautiful wife, Samantha, and their three incredible children. Jonathan, Samantha, please, God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Where are you? There he is. There he is. Beautiful. Thank you very much. Thank you. You're a tough guy. You're a tough one. Nobody could have gone through what you went through. He's doing good, isn't he, Samantha? Thank you very much both. And in conclusion, from the very beginning of our country, our great American flag has always been shielded and protected by a special cast of citizen who has stepped forward to safeguard liberty's cause. When danger came, when duty called, when Almighty God asked, 'Who has the will and the strength to defend the land of the free?' each and every American veteran stood up and said, 'Here I am, send me. Here I am.' They've come from every corner of this nation, from the cornfields of Iowa to the hills and valleys of California, from the steel towns of Pennsylvania to the vast plains of Texas, from the banks of the mighty Mississippi to the five boroughs of New York City. With selfless commitment and unyielding conviction, they made themselves America's ramparts and became the shield between our homeland and those who would do us harm. With everything they had, they did one thing above all else: they put America first. On the decks of destroyers, beneath the thunder of cannon fire and the cockpits of our beautiful B-2 bombers, aren't they beautiful? Now we respect them so much. What a job they did. That in an instant completely obliterated Iran's nuclear capability, of which we have just ordered, I have to say, many more of the updated versions of that incredible piece of art. They defended the American republic, dispensed American justice, crushed the enemies of freedom and vanquished the forces of wickedness and evil. That's what we've been doing. Because of what every veteran has done, today the flame of liberty shines bright, the people of our nation sleep safe, the American dream surges forward, and our magnificent destiny stands more splendid and glorious than ever before. So I want to say thank you once again to every American veteran. You are very, very special people and always in our heart. Thank you very much and God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Distinguished guests, please stand and join the United States Army Band and Chorus in singing God Bless America, and remain standing as we retire the colors. Please place your right hand over your heart or render a hand salute. [48:41] This concludes the 2025 National Veterans Day Observance. Please remain at your seats for the departure of the official party. Thank you for joining us today to celebrate and honor all who serve.