President Trump paid tribute Sunday to U.S. and allied soldiers killed in World War I as he and dozens of other world leaders commemorated the 100th anniversary of the end of "a horrible, horrible war" that marked America's emergence as a world power."We are gathered together at this hallowed resting place to pay tribute to the brave Americans who gave their last breath in that mighty struggle," Mr. Trump said at the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial in the suburbs of Paris, where more than 1,500 Americans who died in the war are buried.
"It is our duty to preserve the civilization they defended and to protect the peace they so nobly gave their lives to secure one century ago," he said.
The Veterans Day speech came a day after Mr. Trump was criticized for failing to visit a different American cemetery about 60 miles outside of Paris Saturday because rain grounded the helicopter he had planned to take. A handful of senior administration officials, including White House chief of staff John Kelly, went in the president's place.
The speech was the final stop of the president's brief trip to Paris to commemorate the anniversary. Earlier in the day, he joined more than five dozen leaders gathered on a rainy day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the base of the Arc de Triomphe a century after guns fell silent in a global war that killed millions. Bells tolled across Europe's Western Front and fighter jets passed overhead to mark the exact moment the devastating war came to a close.
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05.19.2025