Vice President JD Vance delivers a Memorial Day speech in Arlington National Cemetery.
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00:00You, you and me.
00:22Ladies and gentlemen, Vice President J.D. Vance.
00:30Well, thank you, everyone.
00:38Thank you to that incredible choir and band.
00:41And thanks to General Cain and Secretary Hegseth for your powerful words.
00:45Thank you, most importantly, for everything that you do for our nation's warfighters
00:50and for those who have given their lives to this country.
00:54We remember you today.
00:55And certainly to our Gold Star families who are so thrilled and so grateful to have you with us in attendance.
01:04This is a sacred place, an eternal resting spot for our nation's sons and daughters.
01:12We gather in solemn commemoration of their sacrifice and the sacrifice made by all those who gave up their lives in service to our beloved country.
01:24In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson laid the cornerstone of the Memorial Amphitheater we gather in today.
01:33Now, buried within it was a copper box which contained mementos of profound significance to the amphitheater's designers and to our entire country.
01:44There were four things.
01:46An American flag, a Bible, a copy of our Declaration of Independence, and a copy of the U.S. Constitution.
01:54And the objects they chose to dedicate to posterity, those Americans remind us of the values we hold timeless and dear as a nation and as a people.
02:06But those values didn't spring from any stonework or time capsule.
02:11They were lived out day after day by the people buried in this hallowed cemetery.
02:19Each life, honored here in Arlington, was once full of the ordinary moments and quiet dreams, of early sunrises, of good days and bad days, of celebrations and disappointments.
02:36They stood not apart from us, but among us, ordinary men and women who chose to shoulder an impossible burden.
02:46And when we consider what they gave to us, it's common, of course, to focus on their deaths, on the courage to give in that moment what very few are willing or able to sacrifice.
03:01But the real tragedy of the loss is not in a single moment of suffering, as our Gold Star families know well.
03:08But in all the future moments, they and their families lost.
03:12Every moment between their sacrifice on the battlefield and what would have been a natural death.
03:20Because we know they sacrificed not just their physical life.
03:24They sacrificed the moments that make that life worthwhile.
03:29They sacrificed a child's embrace.
03:32They sacrificed walking their daughter down the aisle.
03:36Of seeing their husband or wife after a big promotion of sharing a meal with the family at Thanksgiving.
03:44For my fellow Americans, especially those watching on television, consider the sum of all the moments that make a good life.
03:52And now appreciate that countless strangers, people most of you never met, they gave up those moments in their own life so that we could enjoy them in ours.
04:05And that is what Memorial Day is all about.
04:09I once heard a Marine Corps colonel that I served with, he said this in 2005, not long after a very tough deployment to Iraq.
04:17He said this about his fallen men, that they were the best looking.
04:22They were the kindest.
04:24They were the smartest.
04:25They were the most devoted.
04:27They were the very best of us.
04:31To them, we owe everything.
04:34And today, in the peace they bequeathed us, we honor them.
04:39As the Book of Wisdom tells us,
04:42But the righteous one, though he die early, shall be at rest.
04:47For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time, nor can it be measured in terms of years.
04:57They laid down their lives for Americans they would never meet, for generations yet unborn,
05:03for a nation that would not exist, absent their incredible courage.
05:10Now we know their families in particular have given so much.
05:13And in particular, I want to speak to the gold star families, to the families who have lost a son, a daughter, a husband, or a wife,
05:21to every child here who misses your dad or your mom.
05:25Know that your loved one to us is a hero.
05:29And though we cannot know your pain, please know that I speak for the entire nation
05:35when I say that we are grateful to them and to you for a debt none of us can possibly repay.
05:43Now all of us will honor the fallen and their families in our own way.
05:48But allow me to suggest two ways of honoring their sacrifice.
05:51Two ways that I try to honor their sacrifice every day.
05:55First, we ought to commit ourselves and expect from our leaders to treat the lives of our troops as the most precious resource.
06:07The very best way to honor the fallen is to only ask the next generation to make the ultimate sacrifice when they absolutely must.
06:28We must be cautious in sending our people to war.
06:34The second way that I try to honor the fallen is to commit ourselves to being worthy of their sacrifice.
06:44If you're a husband, be the best husband you can be.
06:46If you're a mom, be the best mom that you can be.
06:49If you're a citizen, be the very best citizen that you can be.
06:53Because together, let us build a better country, a more perfect union,
06:58and strive to be the kind of nation worthy of the sacrifice of the people that we honor today.
07:05On this Memorial Day, let us remember that we have been given a great gift, often by people none of us ever met.
07:13Let us cherish that gift and make ourselves worthy of it.
07:17May God bless those who gave that gift, and may he bless the country they sacrificed for. Thank you.
07:36And now, without further ado, let me please introduce your president, the people's president,
07:47the president who knows what these men and women, what they sacrificed for,
07:53and who honors them every single day in the job that he does.
07:56President Trump.