Pete Hegseth's Memorial Day Address: Peace Through Strength

Honoring the Fallen Warrior

• 🇺🇸 We gather to honor America's fallen warriors, remembering their sacrifice and understanding what they fought for.
• 🏅 In America, the most honored tomb belongs to an anonymous soldier, a uniquely American tradition of honoring anonymous sacrifice above worldly greatness.
• 💔 The story of the unknown soldier is the story of every warrior: a young person called by their country, leaving behind loved ones to fight a war, facing immense danger with love for country, comrades, and family.

The American Warrior's Sacrifice

• 🛡️ The American soldier fights not out of hate for the enemy, but out of love for what lies behind them – their country, family, and way of life.
• 🙏 We honor their selfless sacrifice, courage, duty, and love, recognizing that greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
• 🕊️ The fallen dreamt of a future where their children would not fear attack and no enemy could threaten their peace.

The Duty of Remembrance and Vigilance

• 🕯️ We owe a duty to the fallen: gratitude and remembrance, to keep lit the eternal flame of their heroic deeds.
• 👁️ We owe them eternal vigilance, recognizing it as the price of freedom.
• 🏛️ The hope of a free, secure, and peaceful republic is our inheritance, and we must steward it and hand it down to future generations.

Achieving Peace Through Strength

• 💪 The duty we owe these men is peace, which can only be achieved through strength.
• 🛡️ Because we strive for peace, we must prepare for war, a commitment that the Defense Department upholds daily.
• 💯 We will never be complacent on behalf of those who have given so much, honoring them with our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
• 🇺🇸 On this Memorial Day, we rededicate ourselves to God and country, standing on the shoulders of great men, and striving to live worthy of their sacrifice.