President Donald Trump gave a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, where he paid tribute to America’s fallen service members. He pledged to “never forget out debt” to those who served this country in uniform.
“We certainly know what we owe to them,” the president said during his address, according to the New York Post. “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.”
“Every child that lives in peace, every home that is filled with joy and love, every day the Republic stands, is only possible because of those who did what had to be done when duty called and the cost was everything,” Trump said.
“Our debt to them is eternal — and it does not diminish with time, it only grows and grows with each passing year. The greatest monument to their courage is not carved in marble or cast in bronze — it is all around us, an American nation 300 million strong, which will soon be greater than ever before.”
Trump praised American “warriors,” who “picked up the mantle of duty and service, knowing that to live for others meant always that they might die for others.” He added: “They asked nothing. They gave everything. And we owe them everything and more.”
Accompanied by Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Trump placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. “For the families of the fallen, you feel the absence of your heroes every day — in the familiar laugh no longer heard, the empty space at Sunday dinner, or the want of a hug or a pat on the back that will never come again,” he said.
“Every Gold Star family fights a battle long after the victory is won — and today, we lift you up and we hold you high.” The president and commander-in-chief also stated that each generation of Americans has given rise to heroes who have defended the nation.
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? NOW: President Trump lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery
VP JD Vance and Secretary Hegseth joined him as well.
It’s so great to have a Commander-in-Chief who truly cares about our service members again ?? pic.twitter.com/FnTj4NQS7m
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 26, 2025
“In every generation since, at Trenton and Yorktown, at Vicksburg and Shiloh — and in faraway places with names like Château-Thierry, Anzio, Iwo Jima, Khe Sanh, and Kandahar — a chosen few have given all on the altar of freedom,” Trump said.
“They plunged into the crucible of battle, stormed into the fires of hell, charged into the valley of death, and rose into the arms of angels.”
“From Bunker Hill to Bastogne and Cantigny to the Coral Sea, from Gettysburg to Guadalcanal and Concord to Kabul, America’s best and America’s bravest have fought, bled, and died so that we could pick up the torch of liberty, raise it high, and carry it onward to places they could never have dreamed.”
