Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his family joined others in a cleanup of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. over Memorial Day weekend.
In a video shared to his X account Saturday, Hegseth described the effort as an “opportunity” to teach his children about the purpose of the Korean War and the importance of honoring its veterans. More than 36,000 American troops lost their lives while more than 100,000 more suffered non-mortal wounds in the conflict, which is oftentimes referred to as “The Forgotten War” due to it taking place between World War II and the Vietnam War.
“Generations and generations before this one, a bunch of fathers, some mothers, and a bunch of kids and generations after that who knew their dad or knew him in some way. Families and generations entirely affected,” Hegseth said of the conflict. “I think they would want to know that somewhere, someday down the line, there were at least a few people, a couple times a year, who came by and said, ‘hey, we remember what happened there, and our country will collectively remember in a couple of days.’ And it’s our responsibility to pass that to the next generation.”
The secretary went on to say that this type of remembrance is what days like Memorial Day “are all about.”
“Yeah, we understand it and appreciate it. And that’s why we’re here, that’s why we serve, that’s why we’re doing what we do, but we have to very intentionally infuse it into the minds and hearts and souls of young kids so that they understand why it’s special and want to pass it as well. What we value, what we celebrate, or what we celebrate, what we spend our time on is a reflection of what we value.”
Hegseth was joined by Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, as well as dozens of additional veterans, activists and their children for Saturday’s event.
Opened in July 1995, the Korean War Veterans Memorial is located southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and just south of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. It features 19 larger-than-life statues of U.S. Korean War veterans in action during the conflict, which took place between 1950 and 1953.
In 2022, the memorial was expanded to include a granite memorial wall engraved with the names of U.S. military personnel, as well as South Korean personnel embedded with U.S. troops, who died in the war.
Hegseth and Collins were joined by dozens of veterans, activists and their families for a comprehensive cleaning of the monument. Attendees could be seen hand-cleaning the statues and doing upkeep on the grounds throughout the day Saturday.
“Every time we go to conflict, every time something happens in our services, whether it’s in peacetime or even in wartime, it’s like the pebble that’s dropped in the water. It had reverberation as it go out. And we may not see those reverberations where they’re down the line, but they’ve affected all of us,” Collins said.
“So if we come to a time like this, I’m pleased to stand here with you Pete and the families that are here to say, ‘we still remember.’”
