Hegseth Marks 82nd D-Day Anniversary at Normandy American Cemetery
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered remarks at the Normandy American Cemetery in France on June 6, 2026, honoring the roughly 160,000 Allied troops who landed on D-Day. The visit marks the second consecutive year a sitting defense secretary has commemorated the assault that established the Western Front in World War II.
abcnews.go.comSecretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke at the Normandy American Cemetery in France on June 6, 2026, to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy.
The June 6, 1944, landings involved approximately 160,000 Allied troops, 73,000 of them American, according to the Department of Defense release. Hegseth's appearance is his second straight year at the site for the anniversary.
The event changes nothing in current U.S. force posture or operations. It maintains the established practice of the defense secretary personally representing the United States at the annual commemoration held at the cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.
The speech triggers no immediate funding, deployment, or regulatory deadlines. It does require the department to continue supporting the logistical and security arrangements for senior-level travel to the annual French-hosted ceremony, which draws heads of state and veterans' organizations.
The American Battle Monuments Commission, which maintains the cemetery, must coordinate with French authorities and the Office of the Secretary of Defense on access, crowd control, and ceremonial elements for the fixed June 6 date each year.
This is the second consecutive year Hegseth has delivered the U.S. remarks at the Normandy American Cemetery on the D-Day anniversary. The Defense Department has observed the June 6 date with senior-level representation every year since the 40th anniversary in 1984, when President Reagan spoke at Pointe du Hoc.
The Normandy American Cemetery holds the graves of more than 9,300 Americans killed in the Normandy campaign.
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