Veterans react to president’s desire to change name of Veterans Day

mdaviscvono
May 8, 2025
2 min read

Published: May. 2, 2025 at 4:08 PM EDT

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - President Donald Trump has announced that he wants to rename Veterans Day and V-E day as “Victory Day for World War I and “Victory Day For World War II, and local veterans are speaking out. The President stated that these changes would serve as a way for the United States to celebrate its achievements in those conflicts.

“Those days are set aside as a reminder of freedom and sacrifice. It is not about victory over an opponent or in war,” veteran advocate and retired Lt. Colonel John Paradise told us. “If this president thinks this is the right decision to be made on behalf of all our veterans, I will strongly question that.”

He added that the president’s announcement is disappointing and takes away from the true meaning of remembrance those holidays hold.

“Veterans’ day has never been about celebrating victories. It’s always been about remembering and honoring our veterans and expressing our nations admiration and gratitude for their service,” he said. “To rename it to express victory, I think is really disheartening.”

We also spoke with the Director of Veterans Services for the city of Springfield, Joe DeCaro. He tells Western Mass News, Veterans Day is a day to remember all those who have served our country throughout history, and whether or not the day is renamed, it’s still going to mean just that.

“A lot of times, veterans end up being pawns in political warfare, so it’s better to just sit back, and we know what it is, so change the name all you want, but it’s not going to change the way people feel about it,” DeCaro emphasized. “They want to change the name, change the name. It’s still going to mean the same thing to a lot of people.”

Local veterans also told Western Mass News they believe the commander in chief has more important issues regarding veteran services to worry about.

“Shouldn’t you be looking at the care and the benefits and ways to better serve our veterans today? So, when you hear about proposed cuts to the VA, those are the things I worry about. Those are things we as a nation should rally around and support and not making decisions about the naming of holidays.”

Western Mass News did reach out to the organization “Veterans for Trump” for comment on this story but have not heard back at this time.

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