ARLINGTON, Va. — President Donald Trump announced Thursday a new monument will be built on the National Mall in Washington. He signed the final legislative step for the location during a ceremony Thursday at the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington.

The Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Bill is named after the final surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient, who died in June 2022. The act unanimously passed the Senate in March. A plot near the Lincoln Memorial for the mall’s addition was initially scouted for the new monument, but Trump said Thursday that a new site will need to be found.

“We’ll get you the best site in all of Washington,” the president promised.

Federal funds will not be used to build the monument. Instead, the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, chaired by Charlotte Jones, will raise the funds required to complete the project. The foundation also funds the Arlington museum that opened in March 2025.

A brass quartet from the 1st Cavalry Division Band at Fort Hood greeted guests with patriotic tunes as they entered the museum reception Thursday morning.

The curated audience of about 150 included Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and a number of Texas Republican politicians. Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Roger Williams, state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, state Sen. Phil King and Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare were present.

The crowd waited in Brady Hall for two hours, patiently awaiting the president’s arrival once he concluded a private tour of the museum.

About an hour after the scheduled start time, 15 Medal of Honor recipients walked in to applause. Jones, daughter of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and an executive vice president of the team herself, opened the reception by saying America needs a Medal of Honor monument now more than ever before.

“This is a prime example of unity,” Charlotte Jones said. “It’s a prime example of impact about courage and sacrifice, and it takes those values to bring all of us together across the aisle, side by side for our country.”

Trump took the stage to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and a standing ovation from the crowd. He profusely complimented Jones and the museum. Trump said the “level of bravery is incredible” of the Medal of Honor recipients.

After the president signed the bill into law, Jones presented him with the foundation’s Champion of Honor Award for his unwavering commitment to preserving and sharing the legacies of recipients and for ensuring recipients of the highest decoration for valor in combat are permanently recognized.

“With this museum and a new monument in Washington, D.C.,” Trump said. “America will never ever forget what they did and what they risked, and how much they risked, what they’ve meant to their families, and what they’ve meant to our country.”

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. About 4,000 have been awarded, and 65 recipients are still alive.

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