Transcript
Donald Trump (0:00)
Incredible land of ours, free and the home of the brave. And that's what it was. Through the decades that followed, the army conquered the great frontier, won the war that restored our nation and broke forever the chains of slavery. A generation later, the Army's Rough Riders stormed up San Juan Hill with Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and swept the last foreign empire from the American hemisphere forever. Forever swept. In World War I, our doughboys fought bravely in the Valley of the Marne and in the argonne. There in 1918, a devout Tennessee Christian named Alvin York, you know that name, charged across an open field towards the German machine guns. They were firing at levels at that time that nobody had ever seen before. They were knocking down everything in their way, including giant trees were coming down. The enemy mowed down more than half of his platoon almost immediately. The platoon was going down like nobody's ever thought possible. But York pressed on into the jaws of death. He slayed German after German and returned with 132 prisoners from behind the enemy lines. And he had the option of killing them. And he didn't want to do that. And that's okay, isn't it? Right? It's okay. But he brought 132 back. And his actions and the actions of that great day, Crazy, but great day. Sergeant York earned the Congressional Medal of Honor and became one of the most famed and decorated heroes of the First World War. Very famous, actually, because of the movie that was made. And we're joined today by Sergeant York's grandson, Army Colonel Gerald York. Gerald, thank you. Thank you, Gerald. Thank you very much. Great honor to have you. Thank you, Gerald. At his grandfather's funeral in 1964, Gerald was told by the Command Sergeant Major of Fort Bragg that it was about time he joined the Army. And he volunteered for combat in Vietnam and gave the army 30 one of his best years. No, I think your best years are right now. You look very good. Your best years are right now. Keep it going. But Colonel York, we salute you. We salute your family and the fame and the bravery of your family. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here. And In World War II, the army once again came to the free world's rescue. Among the millions and millions who volunteered was Henry Armstrong. He enlisted six months before his high school graduation and did basic training right here at Fort Bragg. By the next year, he was in Normandy. He fought his way across France as part of Patton's 3rd army, crossed the Rhine into the heart of Germany and helped liberate a Nazi concentration camp. He was a brave person. Command Sergeant Major Henry Armstrong is here with us today. He's 100 years old, a veteran of dirt, numerous World War II battles, and 41 years in the Army. Thank you. Wow. These are great, amazing people. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you very much. He's joined by his grandson, Army Major Dennis Armstrong. And Dennis, I assume that's you. Thank you. Dennis and Dennis wife, Captain Shelley Armstrong. They love. They love the military and they love our country. Thank you very much, Shelly. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And their son, Tanner. Where's Tanner? Let me see. Oh, he looks good, too. They all look good. Tanner might look the best, actually. Thank you very much. Who's an active duty staff sergeant in the 82nd Airborne right here in Fort Bragg. He could right now run for office. I think he's very popular. In Korea, our warriors held the front line in the battle against Communism and liberated millions and millions into the light of freedom to Vietnam. We sent some of the toughest men who ever wore army boots and olive drab. One of them was Joe Marm of Pennsylvania. He was 23 years old when his platoon was ordered to rescue soldiers surrounded by the enemy. In the Battle of Yadrang, Lieutenant Marm charged into heavy fire, killing four enemy soldiers in the brush before sprinting across 40 yards of open field. His teammates could not believe he was doing it, actually. They said he then tossed a grenade that killed eight Viet Cong gunners, plunged into the trenches and killed still more before being shot in the jaw. Badly in the jaw. He successfully cleared the way for his men to save their stranded comrades, and frankly, for his men to save their own lives. He was unbelievable. For his exceptional bravery, Lieutenant Marm received the Congressional Medal of Honor and retired as an Army Colonel after 30 years of service. Colonel Marm is here today with his two sons, Will and Walter, both Army Rangers. What a great family legacy. Please stand up. How's your jaw feeling? All right? The jaw? It's all right. Looks pretty good. I wish mine looked that good. It's very good. Thank you very much. Great family. Appreciate it. Real heroes in the modern era. Soldiers have charged into the darkest caves and ventured into the most godforsaken places to vanquish the forces of radical Islamic terror from the face of the Earth. In 2007, Chief Warrant Officer Eric Phillips was stationed at a remote outpost in the Afghan mountains when a massive Taliban force attacked from all sides. He thought he was finished. For three hours, he led a hellacious counter assault to successfully repulse the enemy in close combat. In the same deployment, Eric again repelled an attack by a vastly larger enemy force, saving countless lives. For his spectacular gallantry, Chief Phillips earned the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star, becoming among the most highly decorated warriors of any branch in the war on terror. Actually, he is the most decorated, and it's not even that close. Many, many battles, Many, many medals, and he's with us today. Chief Phillips, you did us all proud. Please stand up. Chief Phillips, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. You are army strong. Thank you very much, Chief. From the American Revolution until today, the story of the army is the tale of an unbroken chain of American patriots who gave all they had for this country. It is the saga of epic men like Washington and Jackson, Grant and Custer, Pershing and eisenhower, Patton and MacArthur, Wild Bill Donovan and the great General William Yarborough, father of the Green Berets. You know that. The Green Berets. You know that. William Yarborough. It's a story of fabled units like the Old Guard, the Iron Brigade, the Big Red One, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Harlem Hellfighters, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Screaming Eagles, and George Patton's Hell on Wheels. They called it Hell on Wheels when he was after you. It was not good. The weapons of war have changed with every generation, but the unflinching loyalty of the American soldier has always remained the same. The army has always stayed true to its motto. This we'll defend. You know that. This we'll defend. Army warriors who have laid down their lives for America, rest by the thousands in the sacred soil of Arlington and Gettysburg, Anzio and Manila, and to far off places known only to God. We owe everything to them. Today we renew our devotion to the cause of liberty for which they so selflessly lived and fought and so bravely died. There could be no greater tribute to their memory than to prepare the army to dominate America's enemies for the next 250, 50 years. And more than that. That's why, under the Trump administration, we're focused on restoring the spirit of the US Armed forces. No soldier ever volunteered for the army to be lectured about transgender diversity or inclusion. You don't want to hear that. Transgender for everybody. We don't do that. America's patriots join the army to kick down doors, storm beaches, kill terrorists, and win America's wars. That's what we. And that's what you want. And to that end, we're making that record investment, but not only in the army and the other forces, also because you work together as a team, and we're including in that and across the board now you don't have to take this if you don't want. You could be great patriots. Say I don't want a raise. I do not, I will not accept it. Let it go back into our country. Let's give it to Gavin Newscomb so he can waste it in Los Angeles. No, we don't want to do that. But we're giving you across the board raise for every single service member in the US Armed Forces. We're giving you across the board and you deserve it. You know, we spend so much money on things that we shouldn't be spending it on, but I think those days are stopping. Mr. Senators and congressmen that are with us as part of our one big beautiful bill, we are also investing over $1 billion to update your on base housing and we're building a state of the art missile defense shield to protect our homeland. And it's called the Golden Dome. It's going to be all made in America. We've done it for others. We're now doing it. About time, right? We're doing it for ourselves. After years of recruiting shortfalls, this is to me maybe the most exciting things. We're setting the strongest peacetime recruiting records ever. Just think of this. Six months ago we couldn't recruit anybody to join the military. Nobody wanted to join. That was six months ago. And then we had the election of November 5th and now we have the strongest recruiting numbers in, in the history of our country. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? We've already surpassed our recruiting targets for 2025 and we're not done yet. And I'll tell you, it doesn't make you feel good when you had to hear six, seven months ago that nobody wants to join the army. They don't want to join our military, frankly. They didn't want to join our police, our firemen. They lost confidence, they lost faith in our country. And just a short number of months later we're setting all time records. In fact, your job might be in jeopardy. Somebody else may come in and take it. That was bad. We'll get you out of here. You have to be good. We're getting the best people that you've ever seen. We're getting people. I don't think we've ever seen anything like it. Great. People are coming in. Doesn't it make you feel good though? You have something and you're doing something and other people want to join you. Isn't that a great feeling? Now, wasn't it a lousy feeling just a short time ago when they Announced, you know, you're a soldier and you're proud of your country and you're proud of the army in your case. And you're reading stories about nobody wants to come in and join the military. Right? Isn't that lousy? Even the ladies from North Carolina were not happy with that. But then we had a great election. It was amazing. Too big to rig. We had a great election, and all of a sudden, the people are pouring in, and we have incredible people like Pete and the others that are here. Dan, I think they made a big difference. I really do. So thank you very much, all of you guys. I think you've really made a big difference. The army will soon be stronger, bigger, and better than ever before. And every new soldier that joins our ranks will kindle the same fighting spirit exemplified by the likes of Sergeant Major Jim Schmidt, who's no longer with us. At 15 years old, after lying about his age because he wanted to get in so badly, Jim trained at Fort Bragg to fight in World War II. When Jim's middle school wrote to ask if he would attend his eighth grade graduation, he wrote back, that will be impossible, as I'm rather busy now. I'm in the hinterlands hunting down Germans, and I have to say this. And Italians. I know there are a couple of Germans and Italians here. As a paratrooper, he made the famous drops at Sicily and Salerno while still a young boy, too young to be in the Army. Kicked him out. They found out about it. They kicked him out. They discovered he was way underage. They said, jim, you got to get out of here. You're a hell of a soldier, but you got to get out. But that didn't stop Jim. He enlisted in the Navy, but the moment he turned 18, he came right back and he joined the 82nd Airborne. How about that? He went on to fight at the Chosun Reservoir in Korea, a rough place, saw combat in Vietnam, and ended his career right back at Fort Bragg, having earned two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. With us today is Jim's widow, Peggy, and their beloved grandson, Army Specialist Christian Forbes, who is currently deployed at our southern border defending our country from an invasion. Whether we like it or not, it's an invasion. But I don't know if you've heard. The invasion was 99.9% stopped. Do you hear that? 99 could even be more right. 99.999% stopped. That invasion has stopped. So I think he's in good shape. Specialist Forbes, I want to thank you for defending America. And you've obviously done a good job because that invasion has been stopped. And we appreciate you being here. Thank you. Wherever you may be. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Right. We stopped that sucker, didn't we? Huh? We stopped it. Thank you very much. Each and every one of you here today carries in your souls the love, strength and courage of millions upon millions of army patriots who came before you. Your uniforms bear the same stars and stripes that our ancestors carried to victory at Yorktown, across the Great Plains and over our Rockies. Up the Missionary Ridge, down through the streets of Paris. That's right. We went down the streets of Paris. We've got to help our allies, don't we? Across the sands of North Africa and onto the shores of Omaha beach. Into the blood soaked hills of Korea. And it was a West Point graduate named Buzz Aldrin who first planted our great American flag on the face of the moon. We know that now it's your turn to carry that flag forward and to add your own daring deeds into this chronicle of triumph and legends. Now it's your duty to shield the flame of freedom that was first lit 250 years ago by the heroes of Concord Bridge and Bunker Hill. Standing before you today, I am more confident than ever that in the days ahead and every generation to come, the US army will heap glory upon glory upon glory upon us all. You will protect every inch of U.S. soil. And you will defend America to the ends of the earth. Wherever danger is there, the US army will be another beautiful phrase. Whatever peril comes our way, whatever menace threatens our people, you will stand strong. You will be proud. You will charge hard. And you will keep that flame lit. That beautiful, beautiful flame. You're going to keep it lit. You will hold the flag high. And you will do something that's become quite a famous little phrase also. But you're a hell of a lot braver than me. You will fight, fight, fight. And you will win, win, win. Thank you. God bless you, God bless our soldiers, and God bless the US Army. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody.