(applause)
President Trump: Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Great honor, and thank you to my very good
friend Rupert Murdoch.
There's only one Rupert.
That we know, but for helping to keep this
history alive, and he's been working on this
for a long time.
He loves Australia, and for the next generation,
and thanks also to the legendary, talented
golfer, Greg Norman.
I used to think I was a great player, and then I
played with Greg one time and I said, "Well, I'm not
going to play golf for a living."
(laughter)
He saved me a lot of time, I'll tell you that.
(laughter)
And thank you to everyone here tonight for helping
us to honor and remember those very brave souls who
answered the call of freedom; also to Anthony
Pratt who just pledged two billion, and that's
peanuts for Anthony, if you know Anthony.
(laughter)
Come on Anthony.
You can do better than that.
(applause)
Thank you.
Thank you very much Anthony.
That's beautiful.
It's really a special privilege to be back on
the Intrepid and to address both American and
Australian heroes.
Melania and I are thrilled to be joined by a very,
very special prime minister, and his
wonderful wife, Lucy, who I've just gotten to know
and, you know, they said we had a rough phone call.
We really didn't have a rough phone call did we?
(laughter)
Everyone's talking about this phone call.
The media was saying, "What do you think about
the phone call?
You didn't really hang up?"
No, we had actually a very nice call, right?
Good, now the record is straight.
All of those people back to there --
(laughter)
-- thank goodness.
(applause)
It's true.
We had a very nice phone -- it's got a
little testy.
It got a little bit testy, but that's okay.
We've had a very good relationship, and I'm very
proud of the relationship.
Thank you very much Malcolm.
The Prime Minister and I have just finished a
productive discussion about the interests of our
two countries.
Together we discussed crucial issues, ranging
from national security to trade, to immigration and
enhanced economic cooperation.
We reaffirmed the tremendous friendship
between the United States and Australia, and the
vital importance of our security and our alliance.
The Armed Forces of our two nations are operating
side-by-side almost every day, fighting to defeat
Isis and the scourge of terrorism, and we will
eradicate terrorism.
(applause)
To every man and woman who has served America and
Australia in uniform, two proud nations salute you,
believe me.
There is no better place to remember the importance
of military readiness than this ship.
It was laid down just one week before the tragic and
the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, and helped secure
freedom in its hour of need.
I was proud to share the news that this week my
administration reached a historic deal with
Congress to end the devastating cuts to the
United States military.
(applause)
I don't know what they were thinking when they
started cutting, but we got it all coming back in
big league, believe me.
It's coming back fast: ordering lots of planes,
lots of ships, lots of jobs too, by the way.
We will add more than $25,000,000,000 for
national defense in a short period of time, and
we will ensure that our service members have the
equipment, tools, training, and resources
that they need and that they so richly deserve.
(applause)
But security also requires friends that you
can truly count on.
That is why I was pleased to meet with Prime
Minister Turnbull, and why I'm so glad to be here
with you tonight, and we had a great meeting just a
little while ago.
I want to thank the American Australian
Association for hosting this event, which I've
been contributing to, by the way, for years
through Rupert.
Every year he'd send me this letter: "Could you
please give money?"
I'd say, "What do I have to do with that Rupert?"
And I'd just keep sending him money, money, and now
I realize that was money well spent.
That's right.
(laughter)
Right Rupert?
For years I've been doing my thing for Rupert, and
for its decades of work to strengthen the ties
between our two countries.
They've done a great job.
America and Australia are old friends and really
natural partners and, with your help, we will remain
so for a very, very long time to come.
(applause)
Our two nations were born as the rebellious children
of the same parent.
(laughter)
It's a very interesting statement.
I've heard that before too about people, and for
nearly a century Americans and Australians have
fought together, bled together, and died
together as brothers and sisters.
Since the first world war when Australians led
Americans in the Battle of the Hamel, our brave
warriors have fought shoulder to shoulder in
every major conflict together.
Their righteous cause has always been the same; the
safety of our citizens, and the survival
of our freedom.
From the beaches of Normandy, a vicious,
vicious fight, to the jungles of Vietnam and the
desert landscapes of the Middle East, where lots of
progress, believe it or not, after all these years
is being made, Americans have had no better friends
than the Australians.
I mean that.
(applause)
We are proudly and profoundly grateful for
Australia's contributions in Syria, Iraq, and
Afghanistan, and their help in the fight against
terrorism following the terrible attacks
of September 11.
On behalf of the United States, I thank the
Australian people tonight.
Believe me, I have so many friends here from this
country and we love Australia; all of us.
We really love Australia.
Thank you very much.
(applause)
I know there are many active duty service
personnel from both nations with us in the
audience, and I want to express our gratitude to
each and every one of you.
We are privileged to be joined by many amazing
veterans from our two countries, as well, and
really from so many different conflicts.
There are so many conflicts that we fought
on and worked on together and, by the way, in all
cases succeeded on.
It's nice to win.
It's nice to win --
(laughter)
-- and we've won a lot, haven't we
Mr. Prime Minister?
We've won a lot.
We're going to keep it going, by the way.
You've given your love and loyalty to your nations,
and tonight a room of grateful patriots
says thank you.
We are especially honored by the presence tonight of
seven World War II veterans and we've been
talking about them all night, but I should
mention their name once again, perhaps for the
final time tonight or we can keep mentioning them
because they're worth it, and their names again:
John Hancock, Derrick Holyoke, Gordon Johnson,
Norm Tame, Wendell Thrasher, Roger Spooner,
and Bill White.
Great, great, people; great.
(applause)
These men stood at the breach in the battle to
save civilization, and their sacrifice
kept us free.
Exactly 75 years ago this week these men saw that
historic battle with their own eyes, and we've also
covered that very, very vicious, violent battle,
but this is a little bit of a different
description, but the end result was the same.
We won.
They saw enemy planes flying toward them
by the dozen.
They saw the flames erupt into the air, and they saw
the true cost of war on the faces of the heroes
that never returned.
On this special gathering, on this special night we
remember the courage of these men and every man,
Australian and American, who fought in the Battle
of the Coral Sea.
(applause)
The count of the dead goes on and on, and the number
of wounded does not even begin to describe the
toughness of the fight and their
incredible sacrifice.
But perhaps in the story of just one man we can
hope to get a small glimpse of its measure.
It is the story of Lt.
Jack Powers.
A Navy flier, he grew up just miles from here in a
modest apartment in Washington Heights,
right up the road.
He then went on to the United States Naval
Academy, an incredible place.
There his roommate said of Jack, "Never trust him
to respect conventionalities,"
because he wasn't a conventional person, to
put it mildly.
"He's a hilarious rebel, and his own man.
You'll like him and really like him a lot but, do you
know what?
He's just a different kind of a guy." In other words,
he was the New Yorker.
(laughter)
(applause)
By the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jack had already
served six years in the Navy.
In the six months that followed, the Allies
suffered many defeats and many, many casualties.
Japan captured footholds all across the Pacific,
and now was closing, and really fast,
closing in on Australia.
In May, 1942 the invasion fleet moved on Port
Moresby, the vital base just a few hundred miles
from Australian shores.
It was there, off the coast, that American and
Australian ships met the enemy in the Coral Sea.
On the morning of May 7, Jack Powers launched his
dauntless dive bomber from the depth and deck
of the Yorktown.
He was some flier, I can tell you that;
some great flier.
Soon he dived straight at an enemy carrier and
dropped his bomb so low he was almost caught in the
blast, and he was badly hurt, but he escaped and
the carrier sank.
That night on the Yorktown Jack urged the other
pilots to take the same risk.
He said, "That's the way you do it.
That's the way you win.
That's the way you sink them.
Whatever the cost, even if it costs you your lives,
that's the way you sink the ship." The next
morning he pressed his point again: "Remember,"
he said, "The folks back home are counting on us.
I'm going to get a hit if I have to lay it down
right next to that flight deck."
In their courage, they turned the tide of the
Pacific war.
They had tremendous success.
They were knocking out ship after ship.
That day Jack flew his plane to another carrier,
straight into a hail of oncoming lead and fire, to
land a devastating blow on its deck.
Seconds later, the colossal blast, the one
Jack was talking about and saying, "We have to take
the risk," engulfed his plane and Jack was gone.
He was dead.
He was brave, but what a job he did.
Sometime before Jack died he sent a wire home to his
father in New York.
It read, "Dear dad, 1,000 miles away doesn't make
any difference.
Your bad son is thinking of you, hoping that he is
worthy of being called 'a chip off the old block.'"
His father was a tough cookie also.
Now it is we who are thinking of Jack and all
those brave souls who fought alongside of him,
with that incredible form of attack, and especially
those who found their final resting place
beneath the waters where they waged that
greatest of battles.
They lost their lives in the fires of war, but
gained immortality through their sacrifice, and now,
75 years later, we hope that we are worthy of
their deeds in the beautiful,
beautiful Coral Sea.
We hope to be worthy of the sacrifices made by
every service member who has fought in our name,
past and present.
The men who fought the second world war saw
terrible things, horrible things, deathly things,
but they also witnessed spectacular valor and
bravery, and from the wreckage of that horrible
war, they rebuilt their nations and launched
civilization to new heights.
They knew that together free people can achieve
extraordinary things, and that one hero can make all
of the difference in the world.
In those Pacific waters we forged iron bonds between
our two countries.
Few peoples in the world share ties in history,
affection, and culture like the Americans and the
Australians; few, believe me.
(applause)
Those ties were sealed with the blood of our
fathers and grandfathers, and those same ties are
now the priceless heritage we celebrate so
beautifully tonight.
So with love for our two nations, with pride in our
shared history, and with faith in Almighty God, we
renew our old friendship and we pledge our lasting
partnership in the search for prosperity and
everlasting peace.
Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much.
I'm honored that you're here.
I'm honored that Mrs. Turnbull is here, and
I'm honored that everybody in this room is with us to
realize what a great, great relationship our two
nations have together.
God bless you.
God bless our fallen heroes.
God bless the Australian people, and God bless the
United States of America.
Thank you all.
(applause)
Thank you.
Thank you very much.