Trump signs legislation that allows creation of Medal of Honor monument on National Mall

President Donald Trump signed legislation in Texas on Thursday that authorizes the future National Medal of Honor Monument to be located within the Reserve of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Trump signed the Hershel "Woody" Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act during a ceremony honoring Medal of Honor recipients in Arlington, which occurred after he toured the museum and met more than a dozen recipients.

The legislation does not create the monument itself but authorizes it to be built near the Lincoln Memorial. 

The act is named after Williams, who was the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient before he died in 2022, and who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima, according to Fox News. 

"In the Battle of Iwo Jima, he carved a path to American victory, literally carved a path so soldiers could get in and win through a deadly gantlet of enemy strongholds," Trump said of Williams.

"And back and forth, he went. He just kept going back and forth," he continued. "And one machine gun nest after another. He knocked [them] out, and he did it for hours and hours. People said they've never seen anything quite like it."

The precise location of the monument has not been selected so far, but it will be located near the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service will later announce the specific site and no federal funding will be used to construct the monument.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.