President Trump rides Freedom 250 train to Roosevelt Library in North Dakota
President Trump arrived in Medora, North Dakota, on a Freedom 250 train to speak at the newly built Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
President Donald Trump has indicated that he and either Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr. will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, making them the third father-son pair to receive the award.
“I see my two beautiful sons sitting there, and I’m going to give one to me and the other to them, so we’ll have a threesome,” President Trump said on July 1 at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.
The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military honor and is intended to honor military personnel who have distinguished themselves in combat with “distinguished gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.”
“I’m going to choose one of these guys and give them the Congressional Medal of Honor for their hunting genius. And if they fight something like ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ they’re going to get one,” Trump said.
President Trump made similar remarks the same day at a ceremony announcing the donation of the Medal of Honor awarded to President Roosevelt to the library.
“I want to give it to myself, but they tell me so, so I’m not allowed,” Trump said. “What did I do…to deserve it and they couldn’t think of anything, so I’m not happy with them today.”
Theodore Roosevelt is the only president to receive the Medal of Honor, awarded by then-President Bill Clinton in 2001 for leading the charge on San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War.
His son, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day during World War II. “His courage, bravery, presence in the front lines of the attack, and complete indifference under heavy fire inspired the troops to great heights of zeal and self-sacrifice,” his citation reads.
The first father-son pair to win medals were Arthur and Douglas MacArthur. Arthur won the award for actions taken during the Civil War, and Douglas won the award during World War II for “preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest.”
