PNN – US President Donald Trump is renaming two events on the country’s calendar, both of which are related to World War II.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing Politico, the US President announced that he will rename Veterans Day to Victory in World War I Day to celebrate the United States’ military victories.
Trump wrote in a post on the social media platform Truth that the move was necessary to commemorate America’s unparalleled sacrifices in both world wars. Trump also announced that he would rename Victory in Europe Day, which is celebrated on May 8, to Victory in World War II Day.
He added: We played a greater role than any other country, so far, in creating a victorious outcome in World War II.
Read more:
Trump threatens to skip upcoming NATO summit; fights over costs continue
Trump added in the post: We won both wars, no one came close to us in strength, courage or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything. That’s because we no longer have leaders who know how to do it! We will start celebrating our victories again!
The move to rename Veterans Day comes as a surprise, Politico reports. The holiday was originally created after World War I as an armistice day to honor American veterans. In the 1950s, the day was expanded to include all American veterans, including those who served in World War II and the Korean War.
Veterans Day became a federal holiday in 1968 and is now also observed to commemorate American soldiers in various conflicts, including the Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars.
May 8 marks the end of the war against Nazi Germany. But the United States continued to fight against Japan until September 1945, when the empire surrendered after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Unlike Veterans Day, VE Day is not a federal holiday.
Trump’s claim that the United States did more to ensure victory in World War II could face criticism from Russia, which has long emphasized the heavy Soviet military losses during what it calls the Great Patriotic War.
Approximately 9 million Soviet soldiers and 19 million civilians died fighting Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front of the European War. Britain also suffered significant damage from German bombing.