Collins and Hegseth Speak at 2026 National Vietnam War Veterans Day Observance at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
March 30, 2026 · U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs · 0:40:06
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
The Department of Veterans Affairs held the 2026 National Vietnam War Veterans Day observance at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on March 29, 2026, with a wreath-laying ceremony honoring Vietnam veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors, according to the VA description and the ceremony video. The master of ceremonies said the ceremony specifically honored the more than 58,000 Vietnam veterans who died and recognized the 1,560 service members and civilians still missing and unaccounted for, according to the program.
Pete Hegseth spoke at the ceremony and introduced VA Secretary Doug Collins, saying he had known Collins for many years as a congressman, a friend, and a fellow cabinet member, and that nobody has a deeper heart for veterans than Collins, according to Hegseth’s introduction.
Collins recalled first walking the Wall alone at night nearly 38 years earlier as a young Hill intern, reading the letters, flags, and photographs left at its foot, according to his remarks. He told the story of a Georgia colleague who, before Collins deployed, promised to welcome him home — because when that Vietnam veteran came home, a cab driver who saw his uniform told him to get out, according to Collins. Collins said the Vietnam veteran changed the VA more than any generation: that generation, met with inadequate or no care on return, stood up and shaped today’s VA, and vet centers exist because of the Vietnam generation, according to his remarks.
Why it matters
The ceremony is the VA’s official Vietnam War Veterans Day observance in the nation’s 250th year, with the VA secretary framing the department’s modern shape as a debt owed to the Vietnam generation, as he stated it.
Sources: U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, “2026 National Vietnam War Veterans Day Observance”, 2026-03-30 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-03-30). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.
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