In a social media post, President Trump said he wanted to celebrate victories in the World Wars. But most living veterans would be left out.
President Trump’s announcement that he planned to change the name of Veterans Day, on Nov. 11, to “Victory Day for World War I” prompted a backlash from some veterans’ groups, which complained that the move would champion conquest over sacrifice and ignore the sacrifices of most living veterans.
In a social media post late Thursday, Mr. Trump also said he would declare May 8, the date that Nazi Germany surrendered in 1945, “Victory Day for World War II” instead of Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, as it is commonly known in the United States.
But some veterans’ advocacy groups said the focus of the new names on winning overlooked veterans who served in more recent wars that had more mixed results.
“It is not the veterans’ fault if we don’t win wars,” said Allison Jaslow, the chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who also served in Iraq. She added that “Veterans Day should be an acknowledgment of the ways that fellow Americans have served and sacrificed to protect and defend what we have in America.”
In 2023, the census counted 15.8 million veterans living in America. This year, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that about 66,000 American World War II veterans were alive. There are no surviving veterans of World War I.
That means that with Mr. Trump’s proposed name changes, more than 99 percent of living veterans — a group that includes Vice President JD Vance, who served with the Marines in Iraq — would be left without a holiday commemorating their service.