Bannon's War Room - November 11, 2026


Episode 5801： Wreath Laying At The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier

Episode 5796： Massie Moves On Hegseth Impeachment

Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 15 minutes

Words per minute

103.82

Word count

7,853

Sentence count

501

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00 Off we go, into the wild blue yonder,
00:00:14 Finding hide into the sun.
00:00:18 Here they come, zooming to meet our thunder, 0.74
00:00:22 Adam boys, give her the gun.
00:00:26 I'm actually, that's the Air Force, I'm actually an Army Air Corps guy, 12 o'clock high.
00:00:53 That's a great show.
00:00:54 They should have never broken them up.
00:00:55 Movie.
00:00:56 The show was Fleet Average.
00:00:58 The film.
00:01:00 See, I've got to do movie training now with O'Donnelly.
00:01:02 You've been in two of the archives.
00:01:04 I watched H&I, and it's on at midnight.
00:01:08 Yes, no, no.
00:01:09 I know the show.
00:01:10 I know.
00:01:11 I've seen the movie.
00:01:13 So for anybody who's got it, we're going to go full boomer right now.
00:01:17 For those that have Turner Classic movies, since it's Veterans Day,
00:01:20 and they always do a great job, I think 8 o'clock in harm's way,
00:01:24 with uh kirk douglas and uh john wayne about the u.s navy fantastic at 11 o'clock bridge on the
00:01:32 river quai my all-time favorite and then at 2 a.m deer hunter oh we may be pulling all night or in
00:01:38 the war room tonight anyway bowling um first off bowling you're a professional baseball player 0.97
00:01:46 you're a traitor in the pit you're basically a brawler and a thug right did you just refer to 0.97
00:01:51 yourself as you know uh us sophisticated international investors did you so was that 1.00
00:01:57 a self-reference to yourself no no steven i was an average i was broke dead broke as a kid who
00:02:03 did very well trading to the point where i became a large investor it's a classification
00:02:08 the qualified investor so to speak it's a different level as you know being the former
00:02:12 goldman sachs banker that you are and sometimes forget there are levels of investment um i would
00:02:18 call it professionalism or experience that they allow you into different deals and i'm frankly
00:02:23 allowed in net worth also so that you they come to you for the biggest deals but you but why have
00:02:28 you been turning these down when the private round because what they say is that hey you're
00:02:33 getting a discount to the ipo price the thing's going to pop and we're going to lay this off in
00:02:37 the mooks later on so so here's how here's how the game has changed back in the day up until
00:02:43 SpaceX, so a long time ago, they used to create an IPO price. You have a value of the company.
00:02:49 If you just look at my hands, here's the value of the company, right? They would create the IPO
00:02:53 price. They would call it at a lower than the real value of the company. They knew it so that
00:02:58 the people that they gave stock to, sold stock to at the IPO price, would make money as soon as the
00:03:04 public bought in. That was the standard operating procedure. It's been the way for dozens of years.
00:03:09 What they've done now, here's the value of the company. They're talking to the same,
00:03:13 They're putting the IPO price at the same or higher than the real value of the company.
00:03:17 And I think we saw that with SpaceX, the way that value came down before the IPO.
00:03:22 Anthropic has already slashed about 30% of the original IPO value valuation price from almost $2 trillion.
00:03:29 They're down to $1.4 trillion.
00:03:32 I'm going to tell you, I'm going to guess it's going to get down to $1.1 somewhere, somehow.
00:03:36 Maybe they're using this story of a leaked security leak breach to pause this.
00:03:41 You know, they could start trading as quickly as November 19th.
00:03:44 Pause that, push it forward and bring the the IPO intrinsic value down to a one at one trillion.
00:03:52 I'm a buyer, Steve, not at one point four, certainly not at two trillion.
00:03:57 I know you're an anti regulation guy, you're more to the libertarian side and understand that you do agree with you need some regulation.
00:04:05 Are you concerned that there's something very fishy about the way they've tried – they're maniacally focused on jamming this IPO through before Thanksgiving?
00:04:16 Does that raise your level of concern that there's something here that we don't fully understand about the use of proceeds and how does that keep the whole ecosystem afloat, sir?
00:04:25 I don't know that it's Thanksgiving.
00:04:28 Typically, markets are strong in late November into December.
00:04:31 It's just a historically provable fact.
00:04:34 Maybe they want to get that into that buy period because January, all bets are off.
00:04:39 A lot of early parts of the year tend to trend down a little bit.
00:04:42 The worst month of the year isn't October for the October crashes to September.
00:04:46 So maybe they want to go into that buy period.
00:04:48 But they're way off.
00:04:49 They're trying to sell us a way too high valuation.
00:04:52 Can I just read something very quickly in this Axios article?
00:04:56 Apparently, sources have told Axios that Lutnick has spent the last year undoing efforts by other administration officials
00:05:03 to hold Megaspeed accountable because of concerns.
00:05:06 It would escalate the trade war time.
00:05:08 Undoing the work, the investigations that others have been doing
00:05:11 into this person who was sleeping with Jensen Wang
00:05:14 and somehow got $7.5 billion worth of the highest, best chips into China.
00:05:20 Lutnick, is he on the CCP payroll?
00:05:22 I don't know. Maybe.
00:05:24 I wouldn't put it past him.
00:05:25 The guy never saw a dollar he wouldn't kill his mother for.
00:05:29 When he saw $250 million, what do you mean he made $250 million?
00:05:33 He's the secretary of commerce making $1.50.
00:05:36 What did he say?
00:05:36 $250 million.
00:05:38 I thought they were all...
00:05:38 I thought they had to...
00:05:41 Yeah, they declared...
00:05:42 They have to declare what their earnings were for the prior year.
00:05:45 In 2025, he made $250 million.
00:05:47 He just...
00:05:48 That came out about a month ago.
00:05:51 Well, we have to make sure that this...
00:05:53 Somehow we got to make sure that this scandal does not engulf the entire second term
00:05:58 because you can tell the angle of attack of the Wall Street Journal
00:06:00 and the New York Times is to do that.
00:06:02 but there's a lot we don't know here.
00:06:04 Bowling, thank you so much.
00:06:05 Where did we get you?
00:06:06 Let's try to do a live handoff tonight
00:06:09 for the 5 o'clock show.
00:06:11 Terrific.
00:06:11 I'll see you here.
00:06:13 Bannon's warm all the time.
00:06:14 I do the 4 o'clock show on Rav everywhere else.
00:06:16 Yeah, you can find me.
00:06:17 I just enjoy all these moments with Stephen K. Bannon.
00:06:21 Think about his background.
00:06:22 He already talked about being a movie producer.
00:06:24 Goldman Sachs, warm host, inside the Oval Office,
00:06:28 inside the Situation Room.
00:06:30 Doesn't get better than that, Bannon.
00:06:31 And I'm not blowing smoke up your trust, but you deserve it.
00:06:34 I want to introduce my new manager, Eric Bolling, Rob Sig.
00:06:39 My next deal is cut by Eric Bolling.
00:06:41 Eric, thank you so much.
00:06:43 I appreciate you.
00:06:44 I know your value, Steve.
00:06:45 I know value.
00:06:46 I'll get your value.
00:06:47 See you tomorrow.
00:06:48 Value.
00:06:49 No discount.
00:06:51 Right there, Arlington.
00:06:53 Now, Patrick O'Donnell is with us, but I want to keep the shot on the full.
00:06:58 You and I have talked many times about the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
00:07:03 Memorial Day is for the honored dead.
00:07:05 But that came later, the very first time, as you've done in that amazing book about the end of World War I.
00:07:12 The unknowns.
00:07:13 The unknowns, about other nations had done it.
00:07:15 We decided to do it.
00:07:16 The very first one was actually done on what was then called Armistice Day. 1.00
00:07:20 Correct.
00:07:22 And it was the French to have the first Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
00:07:25 and then there's a groundswell of interest within the United States.
00:07:29 Even a lady who was an editor of a paper called Delineator,
00:07:33 Marie Maloney, really starts to do a grassroots movement
00:07:37 to have our own unknown soldier to represent the sacrifices of service members.
00:07:43 There's the Tomb of the Unknown right there with the old guard.
00:07:48 Do you want to talk about the old guard?
00:07:49 Well, what happened is they interned the remains of the unknown soldier in 1921 on November 11th, and there was no term guard.
00:08:01 And people would come and literally have a picnic on the tomb and desecrate this most hallowed ground, and then they bring in the tomb guard, the old guard, to guard the tomb.
00:08:11 Who is the old guard?
00:08:12 The old guard is one of the oldest, if not one of the oldest regiments in the United States Army.
00:08:20 And they are given the responsibility of guarding the tomb 24-7.
00:08:25 And it's, you know, really an incredible opportunity.
00:08:31 You know, just going there and seeing them walk the mat with fixed bayonet to honor the tomb and protect it is really an incredible thing.
00:08:44 So the president will be there and there'll be a laying of the wreath for Veterans Day.
00:08:52 Armistice Day, World War, you've gone back.
00:08:55 In fact, you've done, I think, every war now.
00:08:57 Am I correct?
00:08:58 Not every one. 0.98
00:08:59 I need to do Vietnam still.
00:09:01 And that's my, it's, it's on the, I have not, I have interviewed many Vietnam veterans and it's
00:09:07 on one of my, it's one of my top priorities. And I, I know exactly what I want to write about.
00:09:13 And, uh, Vietnam veterans are amazing and an amazing generation. Is that, I'm going to ask
00:09:19 a dumb question here. Is that a pool camera? Is that a wrap? Is that our own camera? Pool camera? 0.94
00:09:24 This is one of the reasons that we volunteered. Real Americans always volunteered to make sure 1.00
00:09:29 that we were at the pool on occasions when they
00:09:31 need it because the mainstream media, as you know,
00:09:32 has just done a terrible job
00:09:34 at the pool camera. We're at Arlington
00:09:37 National Cemetery. If you're
00:09:38 familiar with our
00:09:40 Memorial Day coverage, this is where we start
00:09:42 the Memorial Day coverage, or actually I guess started
00:09:44 at the White House when they come
00:09:46 to the Tomb of the Unknown, and then the President
00:09:48 always
00:09:49 places a reef and then has
00:09:52 some remarks. He is going to have some
00:09:54 remarks today also.
00:09:56 There will be a placing of the reef in the
00:09:58 president would do some commemorative remarks on this day, which is this is the theory behind
00:10:08 shifting from Armistice Day to Veterans Day is that this would be for the service of those
00:10:13 veterans. Memorial Day would be for the honored dead, correct? Correct. And it's World War I
00:10:21 that commemorates this and it's symbolized through an unknown soldier that they're not sure who he
00:10:27 was uh and they went through great steps to make sure that they they went to each of the major
00:10:34 battlefields where there are there were cemeteries now and they removed the bodies of of a of an
00:10:41 individual that was not identified the remains and they made sure he didn't have any diaries or
00:10:46 dog tags anything and they took several bodies and they um then removed those bodies in case
00:10:55 and caskets and then brought them to um a city hall in in france in 1921 and they allowed edward
00:11:06 younger who was an enlisted man well they were going to first have a general picket indeed that's
00:11:12 a great point how many how many cats how many they had six caskets they had six caskets that
00:11:16 were flagged so you go into the sea hall there's six uh caskets with the remains of people that
00:11:23 are unknown taking taken from the military cemeteries that were there in the in the unknown
00:11:29 section from the united states from the united states they they had them there and the original
00:11:34 plan was to have a general a general officer was going to be given a bouquet of of roses and asked
00:11:41 to select the the casket by placing the roses on the casket and what happened is the french said
00:11:46 hey wait a minute it's the enlisted man that you know do the fighting we we allowed an enlisted
00:11:52 men to select our unknown, and that night they changed it, and they allowed an enlisted
00:11:58 man from the 2nd Division, Edward Younger, to select the unknown soldier.
00:12:09 Yeah, the president's coming out right now. As soon as we wrap this, we're going to bring
00:12:14 Jim Caviezel. Right now we're at Arlington National Cemetery. I think the president's
00:12:19 party's coming up. I think we just saw the First Lady. President's going to come up.
00:12:23 We're going to have our traditional laying of the wreath and then the
00:12:26 president was going to make a few appropriate comments. So here comes the
00:12:30 official party.
00:12:49 Thank you.
00:13:19 Thank you.
00:13:49 On our guard, we're called, right, attention, hold, right, shoulder, arm, left, here, breathe,
00:14:14 Fire!
00:14:19 Fire!
00:14:19 Ready? 0.89
00:14:20 Fire!
00:14:44 Thank you.
00:15:14 Thank you.
00:15:44 Mix it up
00:16:14 The Armed Forces Honor Guard and United States Army Band are formed and waiting as the President
00:16:26 of the United States moves to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to place the wreath.
00:16:44 Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi.
00:17:00 PRESENTS PRESENTTS
00:17:03 OFF.
00:17:14 Thank you.
00:17:44 Thank you.
00:18:14 Order, Order, Order, Order!
00:18:44 Present, present, on!
00:19:14 Thank you.
00:19:44 Present
00:20:13 . . .
00:20:43 PIANO PLAYS
00:21:13 Order, right shoulder, arm.
00:21:32 Let's go. 0.97
00:21:41 Bears ready for cut.
00:22:02 Thank you.
00:22:32 Distinguished guests,
00:23:00 The re-playing ceremony is now complete.
00:23:03 The Veterans Day program will begin momentarily.
00:23:07 Please move to your seats.
00:23:09 Okay, so the ceremony is over.
00:23:12 We're going to go through remarks.
00:23:13 I want to bring in Jim Caviezel.
00:23:14 Jim, thank you for joining.
00:23:16 Jim left.
00:23:17 Oh, he did? Okay, fine.
00:23:18 We'll do this again, the five.
00:23:20 Jim's got this new movie about a veteran called Ghost Soldiers.
00:23:23 They made a decision.
00:23:24 I think it's fantastic to do it at to release it on Veterans Day, which is not normally the films release on Thursday night or Friday.
00:23:34 They did it early to commemorate that.
00:23:36 And we're going to try to get Jim hopefully on the five o'clock show to kick this off.
00:23:41 Make sure everybody goes to go show up, play maybe the trailer later.
00:23:44 What did we just see?
00:23:45 We saw the president laying a wreath on our most hallowed ground, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, to commemorate the service of all service members who have fought for the United States.
00:24:01 and and the the unknown soldier is particularly this concept which i guess was started in france
00:24:08 but the british habit etc is one that because in just the carnage of war particularly before dna
00:24:16 testing there were so many you go to uh gettysburg or you go to um the arlington national cemetery
00:24:23 or this arlington of the south hollywood cemetery in richmond they're always commemorative uh
00:24:30 monuments to say to the unknown and and there you have a vast part of the cemetery because
00:24:37 the they couldn't identify them and you know they they barely could tell the the people
00:24:43 their families you know where they were buried etc so this became symbolic for the french because
00:24:49 all the devastation in the western front in the trenches the british also and then the americans
00:24:55 We had a movement here. Indeed, we have a movement here in the United States.
00:25:00 And it's Marie Maloney, who is the editor of the Delineator newspaper, that spurs it on.
00:25:06 The New York Times. Why did she pick it up?
00:25:07 Well, because she sees what's going on in France, in England, and she wants to honor our boys that fought in the Great War,
00:25:16 you know, where we have over 100,000 killed in action.
00:25:19 And many of those men, like you said, Steve, it's the carnage of war.
00:25:24 Many of them are still in France, and many of them are unidentified because of the absolute, the barrages of heavy artillery, you know, it turns many of these men, the remains are very much mangled, and it's impossible to identify them.
00:25:42 and she sees that and actually the new york times does something right they are they go on board
00:25:48 and um it's it's a congressman also in new york city hamilton fish who fought in world war one
00:25:57 he was an officer in um an all-black unit the harlem hellcats or is that the hell fighters
00:26:04 hell fighters and he's you know he wants to honor their service too and this is it creates a
00:26:10 groundswell and it's within Congress that it's it's passed and president not to put politics
00:26:16 into this and there we have the uh the cameras on the tomb of the unknown we'll be switching
00:26:20 momentarily to the other side of the Lee Custis house to where the amphitheater is quite beautiful
00:26:27 and that's where the president will give the um the remarks uh we should be shifting there
00:26:32 momentarily um it's lost on people that um at the end of the great war it was not particularly
00:26:41 popular they talk they they get on they get on father coughlin and Lindbergh and others in the
00:26:46 isolationist movement or the america first movement iteration during the 1930s but that
00:26:51 came from the fact that the war obviously very patriotic you had a lot of the great music came
00:26:59 out of there. But when people saw the devastation, because we had an immense amount of casualties
00:27:04 and we were only in for the very last, really the fighting of the last year or nine months.
00:27:10 And it was the Americans, the reason the Germans essentially had a revolt internally was that,
00:27:16 well, if America is going to join here, we're all beaten to death. France is beaten to death.
00:27:20 England's beaten to death. We're beaten to death. If the Americans come over with unlimited 0.93
00:27:23 resources and manpower, they'll march all the way to Berlin. So we got to stop this thing.
00:27:28 but it was not in the 1920s.
00:27:32 You can see this even in books like The Great Gatsby.
00:27:35 The Great Gatsby, to me, is a novel about the PTSD
00:27:38 that came from the trenches because he's really a war hero.
00:27:44 And, of course, Tom, the other guy, is a war hero too.
00:27:46 He's a sniper.
00:27:47 And they're very controversial about 401.
00:27:50 That's why this is so amazing of how we caught up in the thing of the unknown.
00:27:54 It was a chance to heal the country, to use the tomb of the unknown to heal the country.
00:28:01 And it brings together so many groups like the NAACP is there and the AR and, you know, just you name it, walks of life from American society are there.
00:28:11 And what's really kind of interesting is the last person to talk is Chief Plinicluse.
00:28:17 And it's a sense of it's trying to heal the wounds of the Plains War and the wounds against Native Americans.
00:28:23 and one of the the body bearers is a native american as well um you know it's it's a powerful
00:28:30 powerful place it's really one of our most hallowed ground i tell that story in the unknowns
00:28:35 um and it's the stories of those men um which tells the the larger story of the american
00:28:42 expeditionary force through the eyes the most decorated so now we've got the shot on their
00:28:46 combat history if we pick up the music i want to go live okay let's go ahead and go live to the
00:28:52 amphitheater over at Arlington National Summit. One of my favorite days of the year, Veterans Day,
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00:33:12 distinguished guests it is now my distinct privilege to introduce the members of the
00:33:20 Veterans Day National Committee the committee was formed by presidential order in 1954 to plan this
00:33:27 annual observance and support other Veterans Day observances throughout the nation please hold
00:33:34 your applause until I have introduced each special guest. If you're able, please stand
00:33:41 when your name is called. Gary A. McClure, Non-Commissioned Officers Association of the
00:33:52 United States of America, Frank J. Peters, the American Legion, Francis Lowe,
00:34:04 Military Order of the Purple Heart, Russ Miller, Marine Corps League, Michael H.
00:34:15 H. Hoyer, Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America.
00:34:22 Robert Thomas, Paralyzed Veterans of America. Donald Marks, Legion of Valor of
00:34:32 the United States of America. Marlon Ruiz, Military Order of the World Wars.
00:34:42 Kyle M. Carpenter, Tria, the Enlisted Association.
00:34:49 Nicholas Dockery, Congressional Medal of Honor Society of the United States of America.
00:34:57 John Donovan, Disabled American Veterans.
00:35:03 Jim O'Brien, Military Officers Association of America.
00:35:08 Christopher Mendoza Trung, Commissioned Officers Association of the United States Public Health
00:35:17 Service. Keith A. Reed, Air Force Sergeants Association. Michael Stetz, Polish Legion of
00:35:28 American Veterans of the United States of America. Harold Treber, Korean War Veterans
00:35:36 Association of the United States of America. David Rodriguez, American GI
00:35:44 Forum of the United States. Michael Rano, Catholic War Veterans. Wade Davis, Blinded
00:35:56 Veterans Association. Selena Kanowitz, Jewish War Veterans of the United States
00:36:04 of America. Thomas Burke, Vietnam Veterans of America. Corey Geisler, Veterans of Foreign
00:36:15 Wars of the United States. Sharon Martin, Fleet Reserve Association. Sandy Voorhees,
00:36:26 AMVETS. The associate and emeritus members of the committee are also with us today.
00:36:33 Associate and emeritus members, please stand. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in recognizing
00:36:39 our Veterans Day National Committee leadership with your applause.
00:36:56 Mark, what's up?
00:37:26 Thank you.
00:37:56 Thank you.
00:38:26 Thank you.
00:38:56 ¶¶
00:39:26 Thank you.
00:39:56 Thank you.
00:40:26 Thank you.
00:40:56 Thank you.
00:41:26 Please stand, if you are able, for the arrival of the official party.
00:41:52 the President of the United States, accompanied by the Vice President, the host of today's
00:42:00 ceremony, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and today's ceremony co-host, the National
00:42:06 Commander of Army and Navy Union, United States of America.
00:42:22 Thank you.
00:42:52 standing for the procession of our nation's colors and those of our
00:42:56 veteran service organizations. As we march on the colors, the United States
00:43:00 Coast Guard Band will play the National Emblem March. Please place your right
00:43:06 hand over your heart or render a hand salute.
00:43:22 Thank you.
00:43:52 Thank you.
00:44:22 ¶¶
00:44:52 Thank you.
00:45:22 Thank you.
00:45:52 ¶¶
00:46:22 ¶¶
00:46:52 Thank you.
00:47:22 ¶¶
00:47:52 Thank you.
00:48:22 Distinguished guests, please remain standing for the invocation given by Chaplain Byron
00:48:32 Singleton, Acting Executive Director of National Chaplain Service for the United States Department
00:48:38 of Veterans Affairs.
00:48:44 Let us pray.
00:48:45 almighty god creator and sustainer of us all we gather today on these sacred hills of arlington
00:48:55 as we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses u.s veterans who have passed away and are now
00:49:03 at peace there are generations of brave men and women who answered the call of duty to serve and
00:49:09 defend our great nation and to preserve our liberties which we hold dear. This Veterans
00:49:17 Day we gather to express deep gratitude for unselfish service, steadfast courage, and
00:49:24 enduring sacrifice to defend our land and to protect our Constitution. Dear Lord, we
00:49:31 bestow favor upon the millions of veterans in every state who donned the uniform of the
00:49:37 U.S. Armed Forces. We humbly thank you, God, for using them as a shield of protection despite the
00:49:45 hardships that they may have endured during times of conflict, war, and peace. We are surrounded by
00:49:53 many rows of white headstones, which are a stark reminder that each headstone represents a life
00:50:00 lived and a story told in the fabric of U.S. history. We remember our deceased veterans and
00:50:07 honor living veterans who walked away from the battlefield with invisible wounds of war.
00:50:13 We beseech you to grant spiritual healing to those struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder
00:50:19 and moral injury. As people of faith, we touch and agree for total restoration of the body,
00:50:27 the soul, and spirit. We ask for a special blessing for the families who shared the burden
00:50:33 of military service when they were separated because of deployment. Comfort those bereaved
00:50:39 families and shower them with peace and joy. May your amazing grace, goodness, and mercy consume
00:50:46 them. In God, we ask that may our gratitude be demonstrated by actions of love, compassion,
00:50:53 and service to each other. Help us, O God, to be one nation under God, indivisible with liberty
00:51:01 and justice for all. We pray all of these things
00:51:04 in the name of our God, who is holy. Amen.
00:51:10 Please be seated.
00:51:21 I am honored to introduce the 2026
00:51:24 National Veterans Day Observance co-host organization,
00:51:28 the Army and Navy Union of the United States of America.
00:51:33 The Army and Navy Union USA is America's oldest active veterans organization,
00:51:39 founded in 1886 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and incorporated in Hamilton County, Ohio, March 31st, 1888.
00:51:48 Its fundamental objective is to continue national defense and national security,
00:51:55 Promote, foster, encourage, and perpetuate fraternal comradeship among those who have seen honorable service
00:52:02 or are presently serving honorably in the United States Armed Forces
00:52:07 and to continue the high ideals of patriotism, loyalty, justice, and service to the country,
00:52:14 educating all others in these principles.
00:52:17 Representing Army and Navy Union USA is National Commander Norman T. Henninger, Jr.
00:52:24 Mr. Henninger is a Vietnam-era veteran of the United States Navy.
00:52:29 He is a two-term national commander, originally serving from 1988 to 1989,
00:52:35 and has been involved with Veterans Day National Committee on and off for 37 years.
00:52:40 Please join me in welcoming the national commander of the Army and Navy Union USA
00:52:45 and co-host of today's ceremony, Mr. Norman Henninger, Jr.,
00:52:49 who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and deliver remarks.
00:52:53 Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
00:53:01 On behalf of the Army-Navy Union, United States of America, Incorporated,
00:53:06 the National Veterans Day Committee, and the Department of Veterans Affairs,
00:53:10 we welcome you to the 73rd National Veterans Day celebration here at Arlington National Cemetery.
00:53:19 As we celebrate this Veterans Day, let us reflect on the meaning and purpose of Veterans
00:53:26 Day.
00:53:27 It is important that we separate Veterans Day from Memorial Day, which was to honor
00:53:33 those who gave their lives in the defense of our country.
00:53:38 Veterans Day celebrates all who have served in the service of our nation, living or deceased,
00:53:45 to protect the freedoms we as Americans enjoy today.
00:53:52 Veterans Day was originally known as Armistice Day.
00:53:57 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed on November 11, 1919
00:54:01 the first Armistice Day,
00:54:04 marking the anniversary of the secession of hostilities
00:54:07 in World War I,
00:54:10 which occurred at the 11th hour of the 11th day
00:54:14 of the 11th month.
00:54:15 Then on June 1, 1954, Congress changed the name to Veterans Day, a day to honor American veterans of all wars.
00:54:31 In 1954, Veterans Day proclamation by President White D. Eisenhower called for the formation of the Veterans Day National Committee.
00:54:42 chaired by the administrator of the Veterans Administration, which later became the Department
00:54:50 of Veterans Affairs, to oversee the national planning and organizing of Veterans Day observance.
00:54:59 The chair then called together leaders of the National Veterans Organization
00:55:04 and asked them to serve on this committee.
00:55:07 As such, Veterans Day offers a time of reflection.
00:55:18 For our older Americans, it may bring back memories of service or loved ones who have served.
00:55:25 For future generations, it is an opportunity to gain experience from our history and prepare for our future.
00:55:33 This Veterans Day, let us dedicate our lives to assisting veterans and their families
00:55:40 in the times of need or in distress, and to assist in the burial of such veterans
00:55:48 whenever called upon to do so.
00:55:53 When we see a veteran, extend your hand.
00:55:57 Thank them for their service.
00:55:58 they will appreciate it, and it might just make you feel better also.
00:56:09 I am now honored to introduce the host of today's ceremonies,
00:56:16 our chair of the Veterans Day National Committee
00:56:18 and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Douglas A. Collins.
00:56:23 Mr. Secretary.
00:56:28 Welcome, everyone, to Veterans Day.
00:56:41 For all our veterans here serving today, I am a little partial, of course, for my 25-plus
00:56:47 years almost in the Air Force, but also my Army brethren, my Navy brethren, Coast Guard,
00:56:53 and Space Force.
00:56:54 But I have a special shout-out.
00:56:55 I will be a little bit quieter for some in the audience.
00:56:58 You may know who I've forgotten, so if this is going to be your opportunity, but somebody
00:57:01 had a birthday yesterday.
00:57:05 If you don't have the Marines in the house, who's going to bark? 0.77
00:57:08 There we go.
00:57:10 It is great to be here.
00:57:11 Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, thank you, Norman, as well, for taking this day.
00:57:15 And this is a day that is special.
00:57:18 I want to remind you of a country that over 390 years ago understood what it meant to
00:57:24 defend what we have.
00:57:26 390 years ago, our National Guard really stepped forward and said, you know, we came to this country expecting to find liberty and freedom in the pursuit of what we want and freedom to have that pursuit of happiness.
00:57:39 It was not guaranteed to us.
00:57:40 It was a pursuit.
00:57:41 And they understood that the only way we could have a pursuit is to actually fight for that pursuit.
00:57:48 390 years went by.
00:57:50 251 years ago, we started as a country with our Navy and our Army and our Marines, adding on as
00:57:59 we went. And over the years, what would happen, just as they did 390 years ago, they would leave
00:58:05 from the farms, they would leave the shops, they would leave their homes, they would leave their
00:58:10 families to go do for this country what this country had given to them, and that it was the
00:58:15 way to live and a way to pursue life and happiness. And so throughout the ages, we have woke up on
00:58:22 mornings like December 7th, 85 years ago, when everyone was just getting up for Sunday morning
00:58:27 thinking it was going to be a normal day, and then we were attacked cowardly at Pearl Harbor. 0.68
00:58:34 We follow through with years of war in Vietnam. We go through the Gulf War, and then we come into
00:58:39 a date in September much like this in which we were attacked again. What is the same throughout
00:58:46 history is that every time that this country needed someone, someone stood up. That someone
00:58:52 is a veteran. That someone has a face and a name. That someone is the reason you are here today.
00:58:59 It is the reason you can assemble peacefully. It is the reason you can vote. It is the reason
00:59:04 that you have freedom of press and freedom of speech, it is the reason that you have the life
00:59:09 that you live. So veterans today understand one thing, this country does not forget. This president
00:59:18 does not forget. This administration remembers that the purpose of the VA is to take care of
00:59:26 veterans, and that is all we do at the VA, is put veterans first every day.
00:59:34 And in the past years, we've made it easier to get your compensation, easier to go to
00:59:45 the hospital.
00:59:46 We've opened 47 new facilities since 2025, and we've also made it easier to actually
00:59:52 follow the law.
00:59:53 I know that's a strange concept for some in this city, but the Mission Act said that
00:59:57 our veterans could go into the community for care as you signed into law, sir.
01:00:01 And we've had a 26 percent increase in veterans not only getting direct care, but community
01:00:05 care just in the last two years.
01:00:14 So veterans, this is a day for celebration.
01:00:17 If you have raised your right hand, you have done something that approximately 96 percent
01:00:21 of this country never has done.
01:00:23 You raised your right hand and said, I'm willing to go.
01:00:26 I'm willing to serve.
01:00:27 I'm willing to be there, or as my friend and colleague at the Department of War says, here
01:00:32 I am. Send me. You are the best of America. You are what makes us the envy of the world
01:00:42 and also what the rest of the world fears. Because when veterans come down, the world
01:00:48 knows if they're an American coming, then help is on the way.
01:00:53 There's one last thing that I admit every time, because there's press here, there's 0.81
01:00:56 others that have seen this, and I've seen this start cropping up, and I have to say
01:01:00 it all the time, that I am tired in a country where I see we're giving veterans this, we're
01:01:06 giving veterans that, and haven't we give them enough? I have one thing to say to this
01:01:12 country and those naysayers. We do not give our veterans anything. They have earned everything
01:01:17 everything that they have gotten.
01:01:30 And we will not forget you.
01:01:32 And now it is my great honor and pleasure to introduce the Vice President of the United
01:01:36 States and a fellow veteran, Mr. J.D. Vance.
01:01:43 Well, thank you, Doug, and thanks to all of you for your service.
01:01:50 And let me just be another voice that says to all of our nation's veterans, to their families, to their friends, to their children, to everybody who has served the United States of America in uniform, but also to the people who made it possible for them to serve the United States in uniform, this is your day.
01:02:09 Happy Veterans Day, my fellow veterans, we're proud of you, and we're never going to stop fighting for you.
01:02:20 So 22 years before Abraham Lincoln was president, he observed that it was that our veterans who were the memorial to generations past,
01:02:31 to the wars that they fought, and to the freedoms that they earned.
01:02:35 And in his time, he was talking about the generation of Revolutionary War veterans who had served their country honorably and they were passing away.
01:02:44 And he likened it to a massive, beautiful forest where every day we would lose one or another giant, beautiful oak tree.
01:02:55 Think about what those veterans represented.
01:02:57 before we had these beautiful monuments, before we had stone temples built to honor those who
01:03:02 served, the first memorial to our nation's freedoms and the wars that made them possible
01:03:08 were our veterans. You saw them in the friends that you served with. You saw them in the people
01:03:14 who lost limbs. You saw them in the headstones that represented a life that had served the United
01:03:19 States of America. We are, of course, proud in this amazing city, in this beautiful capital of
01:03:25 We're proud of all these incredible monuments, but we know that the most important monuments
01:03:31 to our generations who served in the military, our most important monuments are you.
01:03:39 It is the people who had the courage and the willpower and the fight to put on the uniform
01:03:44 of the United States of America and say, don't send my neighbor, send me.
01:03:50 That is the greatest monument to America.
01:03:52 It's you all.
01:03:53 It's the fact that you served.
01:03:55 But just as in Lincoln's time, some of those monuments were disappearing,
01:04:06 one of the amazing responsibilities and the humbling responsibilities as a veteran
01:04:11 is that we have to pick up the torch when one generation sets it down.
01:04:17 Now, when I first started doing work with the generations of veterans in Vietnam,
01:04:22 One of the things they told me, one of the most important things they took to heart is that they did not want to leave the next generation of veterans behind.
01:04:33 Anybody who's talked to a veteran of Vietnam knows that they were fighting not just for their benefits, not just so that the country honored the promises that would maze to the generation in Vietnam.
01:04:44 they were also fighting so that the generations that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan so that the
01:04:50 government honored those promises as well. Because one of the most important things our veterans do
01:04:56 is not just fight for their country, they fight for their fellow veterans. And let me say as one
01:05:02 veteran to the next, we are picking up that torch every single day. We will never leave our veterans
01:05:09 behind, ladies and gentlemen. That is my most sacred promise to every person here today.
01:05:20 But just as in Lincoln's time, he was witnessing that amazing Revolutionary War generation
01:05:26 lose an oak tree every single day. So in our time, we are watching fewer and fewer World War II
01:05:34 veterans who still remember what it was like to serve in one of our nation's greatest and
01:05:40 most historic triumphs in 251 years of proud history. And so I want to give a special shout
01:05:48 out to three World War II generation veterans who are here with us today, and I'd ask that
01:05:55 they be recognized, and that is Dave Yoho, Clifford Richardson, and Julian Smith. Thank
01:06:02 Thank you for your service. Thank you for fighting for this country.
01:06:32 gentlemen, my fellow veterans, this is your day of course and I want you to celebrate. I want you
01:06:38 to have a good time and in my family our great tradition because veterans ate free at Golden
01:06:43 Corral was to go to Golden Corral. Whatever, we had one guy in the back standing up and clapping
01:06:50 but whatever your tradition is, I want you to enjoy this day but I also want you to take
01:06:58 some special commitment, just as the generations of World War II veterans and the generation
01:07:06 of Vietnam veterans fought for my generation of veterans, it is now our time to pick up the torch
01:07:14 and to fight for the next generation of veterans. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, let's celebrate our
01:07:20 veterans. But I want every single veteran here, every single veteran in our country to remember
01:07:26 that our job is to fight for the next generation of veterans, and that is exactly what we're going to do.
01:07:42 And because of that, I am proud to introduce a man who has fought for veterans every single step of his life in public service,
01:07:52 a man who expanded health care benefits for our veterans and who demands that his administration
01:07:59 honor its commitments to the veterans who served our country in uniform.
01:08:04 He is our commander-in-chief, but most importantly today, he is a fighter for the nation's veterans,
01:08:12 and I am proud to fight right alongside him.
01:08:15 Mr. President Donald J. Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the United States.
01:08:22 I want to just thank the Vice President is doing a fantastic job. We appreciate it very much. And we come today to these Howell grounds and they are indeed very special.
01:08:49 rolling hills and hold the names of our great heroes etched in stone to honor 250 years of
01:08:56 service, valor and sacrifice unsurpassed in all of the ages. On Veterans Day, we reaffirm our
01:09:04 undying gratitude to every patriot who has answered the call of duty. We pay tribute to all of those
01:09:12 who have won the wars and worn the uniform, who face the enemy, who have beaten the enemy
01:09:20 at every turn, who have borne the burdens of fate and destiny to stand as our protection
01:09:26 in battle. You are indeed our protection in battle. And we thank almighty God for the
01:09:35 noble warriors of the United States military who have always stepped forward so that America
01:09:41 might always stay free. To every veteran here at Arlington and across the nation, today we render
01:09:49 you the highest salute. We offer you our deepest respect and love, and we pledge to you our utmost
01:09:57 loyalty and devotion. Please join me in thanking every American veteran of the Army, Navy, Air
01:10:05 Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marine Corps. And we want to thank you very
01:10:11 much. As we salute our veterans, let us also express our profound love and appreciation for our
01:10:27 military families, past and present. They are amazing. Thank you very much.
01:10:35 And they are really among the very best of our nation.
01:10:45 We're honored to be joined as well
01:10:48 by the First Lady of the United States.
01:10:50 Thank you very much.
01:10:55 Thank you.
01:11:00 The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
01:11:05 You know, I had a feeling that was going to happen.
01:11:13 He's done a fantastic job, but he loves you and he protects you.
01:11:17 He's all about you.
01:11:20 Secretary of Veterans Affairs with a 92% approval rating, the job he's doing.
01:11:26 That's pretty good.
01:11:27 Maybe we'll get it up to 100 pretty soon, Doug.
01:11:29 Doug Collins, thank you, Doug.
01:11:31 What a job.
01:11:35 It's about 50 points higher than his predecessor, I must tell you.
01:11:41 That's a big difference.
01:11:42 Many members of my cabinet, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
01:11:47 General Dan Cain, who's fantastic.
01:11:49 Thank you very much, General.
01:11:51 Thank you.
01:11:56 And representatives of our amazing veteran service organizations
01:12:00 and the countless members of the United States Armed Forces
01:12:04 who are with us today thank you all we really respect and appreciate you thank you all
01:12:10 to inherit a free nation is among the rarest blessings that any people in history
01:12:20 have ever known to defend that freedom is among the hardest and highest obligations one of the
01:12:27 most difficult tasks imaginable.
01:12:31 Across every generation, American liberty has been
01:12:34 preserved by legions of selfless patriots who have
01:12:37 raised their right hands and sworn an oath of flesh and
01:12:41 blood for a cause whose full cost could not be measured
01:12:45 in advance.
01:12:48 There was no way it was doable, they thought.
01:12:51 In every era, they've stood watch.
01:12:55 They've held a line. They've hold a charge bravely into the fray that few people would have wanted to do or could have done.
01:13:05 It's something that lies between order and chaos, freedom and tyranny, civilization and barbarism, and good and evil.
01:13:16 Exact opposite ends of the spectrum.
01:13:19 Time and time again for 250 years, the American warrior has returned victorious.
01:13:25 our republic has triumphed, and today our country is stronger than it has ever been before.
01:13:34 A nation without heroes is like a sky without stars or a heaven without angels. But in America,
01:13:43 we've never known that darkness because we have the men and women of America's armed forces,
01:13:49 our guiding lights our greatest heroes and our guardian angels at 19 years old jack myers kissed
01:13:57 his young bride and newborn son goodbye and went to serve as a gunner in the 692nd tank destroyer
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