Update your calendar: These are the two new days of celebration declared by Donald Trump

Donald Trump believes that the United States is a bit underappreciated when it come to their vital contribution to the Allied victory in both World Wars.

According to official records, 4,734,991 US personnel served in World War I and 16,112,566 served in World War II. As for casualties, 116,516 died in the 1914-1918 conflict and 405,399 lost their lives serving their country in the second world war.

Trump says US should commemorate war contribution

The US president announced that from now on, the nation is going to start "celebrating our victories" in both world wars, although he has yet to sign an executive order to make it upfront and official. In other words, it doesn’t necessarily mean that two extra federal holidays will be added to the list of public holidays and observances.

In fact, the US already commemorates its armed forces twice a year on Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday in May, and on Veterans Day on 11 November.

Veterans Day was originally known as Armistice Day, to honor those who gave their lives in WWI. It became a legal holiday in 1938 but was renamed by Congress to Veterans Day in June 1954.

Trump believes the US should get more credit for their involvement: “We won both wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything... That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”

Holidays and observances in other countries

In Europe, the end of World War I is commemorated on 11 November as Remembrance Day in the UK and Commonwealth countries and several other countries. The end of WWWII is also observed around the world - in most countries on 8 May but generally not as a public holiday.

Trump has called for May 8 to be branded, “Victory Day for World War II” and November 11 as “Victory Day for World War I.”

“Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I.”

Not everyone is happy about Trump “rewriting history”. One post from a former US Marine on social media read: "Veterans Day was created to honor living veterans of all wars, not just to celebrate a century-old victory. Trump scrapping it to rename it for WWI (a war whose vets are all gone) is erasing the service of millions still with us. It’s not patriotic. It’s petty and childish".

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