President Donald Trump announced Thursday he wants to rename Veterans Day, a federal holiday on November 11, to “Victory Day for World War I” in a move to purportedly “start celebrating our victories again.”
He also said he wants to celebrate May 8, which is not a federal holiday, as “Victory Day for World War II.”
“We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything — That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so!” Trump posted on Truth Social late Thursday.
Trump did not say whether he wants May 8 to become a federal holiday, like Veterans Day.
All federal holidays have been created by acts of Congress, but states are not required to adhere to them, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Veterans Day actually originated as a commemoration of the end of the fighting in World War I, which occurred on November 11, 1918. But even then, it was not put forth as a celebration of a US victory.
Congress originally passed a law in 1938 that November 11 would be Armistice Day, “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace” and honoring veterans of World War I, according the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
After the US involvement in World War II and the Korean War in the 1940s and early ‘50s, veterans groups asked Congress to change Armistice Day to Veterans Day to dedicate the day to honor all US veterans. That legislation became law in 1954.
Currently, Veterans Day is a day to honor veterans of all US wars, including modern wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Trump’s social media post made no mention of how he might honor veterans of those conflicts.
Another federal holiday, Memorial Day, is celebrated on the last Monday in May to honor those who gave their lives on behalf of the country. It was originally established by Congress in 1888 as Decoration Day, a holiday for federal workers in the District of Columbia and a day for the graves of Civil War veterans to be decorated, but become known more commonly by Memorial Day and was proclaimed a federal holiday in 1968.
As far as Trump’s idea to make May 8 “Victory Day for World War II,” the US president’s timing is off by three months.
While May 8, 1945, represents the end of the war in Europe, also known as V-E Day, fighting continued in the Pacific for another three months, which included the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
“Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II,” Trump’s social media post said.
Historians, however, call September 2, 1945, the day Japan signed surrender documents aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay as V-J Day, and the official end of World War II.
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