Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during ceremonies marking the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. Read the entire transcript below. “We forgot that freedom is not free,” Hegseth said. “We forgot that peace is not wished into being. It is bought with purpose, with honor, and with strength. The men who landed on these beaches knew this. The question we ask ourselves is, do we? It’s past time we remember what they knew. Their legacy demands far more than quiet reflection. It requires our active vigilance.” “Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is it too late?” Hegseth asked.

SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Well, Minister, Ambassador Kushner, Mr. Rose, Chairman Caine, distinguished guests, and most importantly, our veterans, thank you for being here to commemorate the 82nd anniversary, 82 years young of D-Day. God bless you all. It is a profound privilege to be with you today on these hallowed grounds. This is not merely a resting place, it is a monument to the unyielding spirit of the American warrior, a testament to the supreme sacrifices our warriors made to liberate an entire continent from the grip of tyranny. We remain ever grateful to the French government, our ally for 250 years, for dedicating this land to our fallen. For every American who visits, it is uniquely stirring to see the stars and stripes proudly flying here in eternal vigil over the thousands of crosses and stars. As a former superintendent of this ceremony cemetery once said, looking over the graves, there they are still serving their country. 82 years ago today, the survival of Western civilization hung in the balance. Dark forces had swept across Europe. Hitler boasted that his Atlantic wall was impenetrable, but our enemy made a fatal miscalculation. They underestimated the unbreakable will of the American fighting man. The task was daunting, a frontal assault across the churning English Channel, directly into beaches and cliffs fortified with iron, concrete, and heavy artillery. An impossible mission, a suicidal mission, the mission of free men, freedom’s only hope, no turning back. Alongside the brave forces of Great Britain, Canada, France, Norway, Poland, and our other other capable and steadfast allies, the United States military spearheaded a great crusade to shatter the Nazi war machine and liberate a continent. Our troops carried with them the inspiring words of General Eisenhower, but more importantly, they carried the hopes and the prayers of a free world. They embarked into the dark choppy waters knowing that many would not return home. As the ambassador said, ordinary men, extraordinary courage. Like American patriots throughout our history from Lexington to Gettysburg, they relied on one another, trusting their brothers and their cause. Before dawn, American paratroopers and gliders plunged into the abyss only by enemy tracer fire. Chaotic drops and fierce resistance, they adapted, they rallied, and they fought. A triumph of American ingenuity and initiative over the rigid mechanized thinking of the enemy, we retain that advantage still today. Sergeant William Ashbrook of the 101st Airborne, Screaming Eagles, looked out of his plane to the site below saying, there were so many boats in the channel, he said, that it seemed as if you could step out of the plane and walk to France on top of them. Speed and scale, scale only the American war machine could produce, and we are producing again today. May we learn from this past. Later that Tuesday morning, the greatest amphibious assault in human history was unleashed. Our American warriors set out to take Omaha and Utah beaches. They rode in Higgins boats, a master stroke of American engineering manufactured by the blue-collar grit of 20,000 workers in New Orleans. The ramps of those boats dropped, and our men threw themselves, hurled themselves into the waves and onto the blood-stained sand. The courage, the sheer courage that it took to charge into that hailstorm of machine-gun fire and artillery, almost unfathomable. I tell my kids who join us today, and they can barely relate, barely computes, who could? Our forefathers did. What those men did here, we ask ourselves, could we? And may we always ask. The first waves of soldiers took devastating casualties, thousands of our absolute best cut down, but the American warfighter never quit. Fueled by an unwavering love of country and the men beside them, they pushed forward. They chose to face death rather than surrender or quit, and as they fought, inch by bloody inch, the Atlantic wall crumbled. They were indeed the greatest generation, farm boys from the heartland and city dwellers from the coast, teachers and shopkeepers. The Americans buried here are our very best, full stop. War reveals the true character of a nation and her men. The courage of the men who stormed these beaches is the courage that defines the United States of America. May it always, may we earn it and remember what they did here. The souls here earned it, and we are blessed to have a number of such warriors in our presence again today. They are a living embodiment of the warrior ethos we today revive at the Department of War. To the veterans here today who served in France and around the globe, gentlemen, we love you. We owe you a debt of gratitude we can never repay. A grateful nation honors your service and your historic bravery. June 6th, 1944 turned the tide of history. Extraordinary Americans, allied courage, meticulous planning, the blood of our heroes, the Axis powers were doomed, the world saved. Without Operation Overlord, we would not have the free world we know today. Together with our allies, America saved Western civilization. This day, an annual reminder of the heavy cost of freedom, but also a reminder as we look out at those crosses of what it takes, and we ask ourselves again, do we have it? Today, as we face an increasingly complex threat environment, we apply the lessons from 82 years ago learned on these beaches. Strong allies, each fully committed to doing their part, win wars. The men buried here fought in a warfighting alliance where every partner brought its full measure of industry, courage, and sacrifice. Not empty slogans, not lavish summits, not communiques. Real allies doing real things, taking real losses for a shared cause worth fighting and dying for. Each nation pulled its weight. Each nation bled. America will lead, and we must, but capable allies must be right there with us, shoulder to shoulder in the breach when it matters. In the years since these beaches, much of the West, in some places, in some quarters, and in some capitals, grew comfortable. We forgot that freedom is not free. We forgot that peace is not wished into being. It is bought with purpose, with honor, and with strength. The men who landed on these beaches knew this. The question we ask ourselves is, do we? It’s past time we remember what they knew. Their legacy demands far more than quiet reflection. It requires our active vigilance. Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not. The men who fought and died here restored freedom to Europe. That freedom must be maintained by this generation of leaders and warfighters, or what they fought for was merely temporary. As our great President Ronald Reagan once said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. You don’t pass it to the next generation in the bloodstream. It must be defended by each and every generation. We stand by our allies, and we expect our allies capable and ready to stand alongside us. The heroes of 1944 did that, and may we. Peace is secured only through strength, and it’s strength on both sides of the Atlantic, fortified by readiness, shared military capabilities, and an unwavering political will. Our world is safer and more prosperous when the United States of America and our allies are strong, free, and unapologetic in defense of our Western tradition of freedom. That is June 6th. That is 1944. That is D-Day. So let us here resolve the formidable alliance forged in the crucible of World War II. We’ll remain ready. We’ll rebuild, and we’ll recommit. And in doing that, we truly commemorate the men of D-Day. And we place them, all of them, in the hands of Almighty God. In fact, from my devotions just this very morning, Psalm 20, verse 7, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we, but we, trust in the name of the Lord our God. May the Lord our God bless our warriors. May the Lord our God bless the enduring 250-year friendship between our two great republics. And may the Lord our God forever bless the United States of America. Thank you.

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