Trump’s Unannounced Arlington Visit Is Going Viral for All the Right Reasons
By Cillian Zeal
President Donald Trump is going viral after making an unannounced visit to Arlington National Cemetery in honor of America’s veterans.
According to The Daily Caller, the visit was made Saturday as part of Wreaths Across America, a day in which Christmas wreaths are laid on the graves of the men and women who served our nation.
“Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, our mission to Remember, Honor and Teach is carried out by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at more than 1,400 additional locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea and abroad,” the group’s website reads.
“We understand we have Veterans Day in the fall and Memorial Day in the spring, but our service members sacrifice their time and safety every single day of the year to preserve our freedoms.”
Over 75,000 volunteers placed wreaths on roughly 245,000 graves at Arlington just last year, Fox News reported. Saturday’s event was set to see over 1.75 million wreaths laid at 1,640 locations.
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Roughly an hour after the event began at Arlington, the president made a surprise visit.
The wreath-laying was described by Fox News as a “small, intimate ceremony.”
The event comes months after Trump faced criticism for not attending the cemetery on Veterans Day. At the time, the president said that he had just attended a ceremony for World War I soldiers in France the day before.
“As you know, I just left the day before the American Cemetery, and I probably think — and that was one where it was raining as hard as you can imagine, and I made a speech at the American Cemetery the day before, and I probably — you know, in retrospect I should have,” Trump said.
In addition to attending the ceremony, the president walked around the grounds in inclement weather to see the handiwork of the volunteers.
“They do a great job, a really great job. Thank you,” Trump said of Wreaths Across America.
According to The Associated Press, the president also said during the visit that backs plans to expand the cemetery “so it could continue to hold burials for decades to come.”
While there wasn’t a lot of talk about the visit in the mainstream media (the AP’s story on the event ran a grand total of six sentences), the visit garnered a lot of attention on social media:
No fanfare. No grandstanding. An unannounced trip to lay wreaths for our heroes, knowing the media would ignore; doing it anyway.
How could anyone doubt how much this president loves his country? 🌲🇺🇸🌲
President @realDonaldTrump #WreathsAcrossAmerica https://t.co/4m44o5wQ3v
— Dr Gina (@RealDrGina) December 16, 2018
This morning President Donald J. Trump made an suprise stop at Arlington National Cemetery to honor our fallen heroes. Every year Wreaths Across America – Official Page coordinates the placing… https://t.co/MDACmIMy7n
— BayArea Rep. Women (@BayAreaRepWomen) December 15, 2018
Thank you for supporting wreaths Across America today at Arlington cemetery, it’s was an honor for our family to support them and pay respect to the men and women laid to rest their pic.twitter.com/WqcFY8nUu3
— Opal Collins (@OpalGib1975) December 16, 2018
This was not a “planned” press event. This is a Commander In Chief that cares deeply about us, all Americans but big time for those of us in the military, us retired and all Vets of the military. I sure as hell don’t remember Obama doing something this
— Mike Coons (@Matvalley1) December 15, 2018
“We know that for a Gold Star Family member, every day is Memorial Day for them, and we understand that at the holidays, it’s an especially difficult time with an empty seat at the table all year round,” Bre Kingsbury of Wreaths Across America told WTTG-TV.
“The holidays, it can be especially tough. So that wreath really is a symbol that shows them that they are not forgotten and that their loved one is not forgotten.”
They’re not forgotten by America, and they’re not forgotten by their president.
