The President:  Well,
thank you very much.
This is a special moment.
I spoke with Allen Jones
about a year ago.
And Allen now is 95 years old.
Great World War II hero.
And when I spoke to him, I said,
“Come on up to the White House
sometime and I’ll see you.”
And guess what?
He called
and he said,
“Hey, you promised.”
And I deliver, right? I deliver.
We don’t play games.
And it’s an honor
to see you, Allen.
And Allen is with
some of his friends —
Sidney Walton,
World War II veteran.
Great gentleman. A great hero.
And he’s 100 years old.
And I want to be
like you someday.
(Laughter.)
I want to be like
all of you guys someday.
That’s great — 100.
And thank you very much.
Thanks, Sidney.
That’s fantastic. Thank you.
And Floyd Wright —
and Floyd Wigfield.
And Paul — where’s Paul?
Paul Kriner is fantastic.
Paul is — let’s see, 103.
He doesn’t look a day over 90.
(Laughter.)
A hundred and three.
You look fantastic.
Congratulations.
Congratulations. War here.
And Floyd Wigfield, who is 101,
and you are amazing.
Look at you, huh. Look at you.
Look at you. So fantastic.
I’m glad you took me up
on the offer.
And surrounded by their family —
very good genes in this family.
You’re going to live
a long time, right?
You’re proud of the folks.
Ms. Ellie Walton:  Absolutely.
The President:  Do you have
anything to say about him?
Ms. Ellie Walton:  Oh, our dad
is the most wonderful dad
in the world.
He always has been.
The President:  And right here,
right? Very good. That’s great.
Ms. Ellie Walton:  This
is our dad, right here.
Yeah.
The President:  The most
wonderful dad.
Ms. Ellie Walton:  The most
wonderful dad
you could ever imagine.
Mr. Paul Walton:  What
he’s doing, Mr. President,
is incredible. He’s traveling
the whole country —
all 50 governors,
and now meeting the President
— he’s spreading the word
of how few World War
II veterans there are left.
And —
The President:  Do you know
how many actually?
Do you know?
Is there a number?
Mr. Paul Walton:  It’s really —
what I’ve been told,
it’s just a handful.
The President:  Wow.
Isn’t that incredible.
Mr. Paul Walton:  And he’s on a
year-and-a-half tour
meeting all —
not only all the governors,
but he’s meeting
hundreds of thousands of people
along the way.
The President:  That’s
fantastic.
Wow. Congratulations
on having a great gentleman.
That is — you know, I’m a big
believer in having good genes,
and you have the best genes
you could have, right?
Ms. Judy Walton:  Thank you.
Luck of the draw.
The President:  So you travel
a little bit with him, do you?
Do you travel?
Mr. Paul Walton:  Yes.
I’m with him all the time.
The President:  
That’s fantastic.
That’s fantastic.
Let me see what that says.
“Sidney, 100-year-old…” Wow.
Ms. Ellie Walton:  “No
Regrets Tour.”
The President:  No regrets.
Ms. Ellie Walton:  Because he
regretted not meeting
a Civil War veteran
when he had the chance.
(Laughter.)
And he doesn’t want anyone
to regret not meeting
a World War II veteran.
The President:  That’s
really nice.
No, I don’t think anybody does.
That was a great victory.
That was a great victory.
We knew how to win wars.
That was a tremendous victory.
So tell me, how —
you talk to me —
the way we spoke, we had
the greatest conversation.
Tell them what we said.
Mr. Jones:  Yes.
The President:  Allen.
Mr. Jones:  I expressed
to the President
at the convention last year —
he asked me
to come on the stage.
It was awesome.
I was afraid that the Secret
Service was going to grab me
when I put my arm around you.
The President:  He just wrapped
his arm around me.
(Laughter.)
Mr. Jones:  And I had a picture
with me
and I asked the President
if he would sign it for me.
He said he sure would.
And I said to him
that I was going to be 95 today,
Mr. President, on April 11.
And I said,
“Well, I’d like to bring
my family to the White House
and be in the Oval Office,”
because somebody told me
that I would never get
in the Oval Office.
And I really appreciate,
Mr. President,
for you allowing us
to come to be with you today.
And I just wish you the best
in all of your endeavors.
The President:  Thank you
very much.
Mr. Jones:  I got a young man
back home, Mr. President —
I told you to not let me speak —
(laughter) —
The President:  That’s okay.
No, he speaks well.
He speaks very well.
Mr. Jones:  I got a young man
back home
that comes to my church
Sunday school class
almost every Sunday,
and your name
is mentioned by him.
And I’ve got to get a picture
to take back for him.
The President:  We’ll do that.
Mr. Jones:  (Inaudible.)
The President:  We’ll do that.
Mr. Jones:  He’ll be one who
(inaudible).
I want to ask you
one other question.
The President:  Go ahead.
Mr. Jones:  When you’re in
Pittsburgh,
I’d like to be
on the stage with you.
The President:  Okay.
We can do that —
which will be soon.
We’ll do that.
Mr. Jones:  If you
can arrange that,
I’d appreciate that.
The President:  
A hundred percent.
That’s why he’s successful,
because he’s very aggressive.
(Laughter.) He’s an aggressive —
he’s an aggressive, great guy.
Thank you very much.
I really appreciate it.
Mr. Jones:  And I’ve got one
more picture for you to sign.
The President:  Let me have it.
Let me have it. Let me see.
Mr. Jones:  Well, I don’t want
to give — there you are.
That’s the one —
we took it on the stage.
The President:  Whoa,
that’s the one we took.
See? I’m going to sign
this one, right?
Yes?
I’ll sign this one for you?
Mr. Jones:  Yes.
The President:  Okay.
I’m going to sign this one.
And Paul, how about you?
Tell me. You’re feeling good?
Mr. Kriner:  I was in
a combat outfit.
It was rumored we were
second longest in combat.
We had the 517 days of combat.
The President:  Wow.
Mr. Kriner:  And, well,
I started out in Africa,
and Italy, France, and Germany.
And I was in the Alps mountain
area when the war ended.
Our last position was at Füssen,
southern Germany,
in an Alps mountain area.
We were pulled out
and went into Schongau.
It was a German army camp
where they trained Air Force
identification people.
The President:  Right.
Mr. Kriner:  And we processed
14,000 prisoners there
in two weeks.
The President:  Wow.
Mr. Kriner:  And —
The President:  
That’s pretty amazing, right?
So do you remember
those days perfectly?
Mr. Kriner:  Yes, sir.
The President:  That’s
really something.
Mr. Kriner:  I was also
in the Korean War, too.
The President:  Pretty good
warrior, isn’t he?
Huh?
Mr. Kriner:  Twenty-six months
in (inaudible).
The President:  A hundred
and three.
Well, you’re going to be around
a long time.
You look fantastic.
You look fantastic.
And I really appreciate
you being
in the White House
and the Oval Office.
Tell us something about the man.
Ms. Knight:  We’re his —
The President:  Tell us.
Tell us. Go ahead.
Ms. Knight:  He’s not shy.
You nailed it perfectly.
The President:  No,
he’s not shy.
(Laughter.)
Ms. Knight:  Not at all.
The President:  He’s
not shy at all.
Ms. Knight:  I’m just like him.
And this is my brother.
The President:  Good.
Congratulations.
Mr. Charles Jones:  We’re very
proud of dad.
Dad was one of five brothers
that went off to World War II.
And his mom was
a Gold Star mother.
One of them didn’t return.
The President:  Oh, wow.
Mr. Charles Jones:  So, dad
is very proud to be
a World War II veteran.
And his family and (inaudible)
—
The President:  Well,
we’re proud of him.
Proud of all of you.
Floyd? How about yourself?
Mr. Wigfield:  I was with
the 4th Division.
And we went in on Utah Beach
in June 20 — in June of ’44.
And we made the (inaudible).
I was on the — my major
(inaudible)
was on the third wave and —
The President:  And that was
pretty brutal, Utah.
And it was pretty —
that was a pretty brutal area
at the time, wasn’t it?
Mr. Wigfield:  Yeah.
I was there about a half a month
before I got wounded.
Night and day
on the battlefield. And —
The President:  How badly
wounded out there?
Were you badly wounded?
Mr. Wigfield:  Yeah, well,
I was all summer there,
getting me back
out of the hospital.
They sent me back up,
and I went back up into
West Germany somewhere.
Then another shell.
(Laughs.)
The President:  You got
wounded again.
Mr. Wigfield:  Back in France,
back in England again.
And that time,
they sent me home.
The President:  Fantastic job.
Are you together? Huh?
Mr. Davis:  Paul and Floyd
are both with the
Greatest Generations Foundation.
As you know,
we return combat veterans back
to where they fought and served.
And we look forward
to hosting you in Normandy
this coming June for the 75th.
The President:  Yep.
I’ll be there. I’ll be there.
Mr. Davis:  Probably
a good opportunity.
This gentleman wants to fly back
with you on Air Force One.
(Laughter.)
The President:  Where are you
flying back to?
Are you flying back
to Washington? To Washington?
Mr. Davis:  Once we’re done
in Europe —
The President:  We’ll do that.
We’ll work that out.
Is that okay?
We’ll work that out.
You’ll like Air Force One.
Well, I want to thank
all of you.
Great heroes. Great warriors.
Highly respected.
And you folks do
a fantastic job.
I want to thank you.
And congratulations
to everybody.
Yes, please.
Mr. Paul Walton:  
President Trump,
my father just wanted to say
a couple things, if he may.
Dad, please tell the President
the reason
why you joined the Army.
Mr. Sidney Walton:  I joined
the Army to fight Hitler.
Mr. Paul Walton:  That’s
the reason he joined.
The President:  That
was good reason.
Mr. Paul Walton:  And it’s
called
now the “No Regrets Tour.”
You regret not meeting
the Civil War veterans, right?
Mr. Sidney Walton:  Yes.
I regret not meeting
any Civil War veterans.
Mr. Paul Walton:  And that’s why
he’s allowing people
that want to meet
a World War II veteran
before it’s too late
to meet him.
The President:  That’s great.
Mr. Paul Walton:  And he brought
a gift for you.
The President:  Good.
Mr. Paul Walton:  And we have
the gift back there.
I think you’ll like it.
It’s a very special gift
that my dad has carried
from San Diego —
The President:  Do you want
to bring it up?
Mr. Paul Walton:  —
from San Diego, just for you.
The President:  Great.
Mr. Paul Walton:  Here, Dad.
The President
is going to open
the gift that you got him.
The President:  From San Diego,
where we just built a wall.
(Laughter.)
And they were very happy
that I built it.
(The President opens a gift.)
Oh, that’s beautiful.
That’s beautiful.
That’s fantastic.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Paul Walton:  And all my dad
asks is,
if you happen to know
how to tweet,
if you want to tweet that out,
you’re welcome to.
The President:  I don’t
tweet too much.
(Laughter.)
Mr. Paul Walton:  It would be
an honor if you do.
The President:  I’ll
do something.
I will.
We’ll have a little fun with it.
Mr. Paul Walton:  Right, Dad?
Mr. Sidney Walton:  Yes.
Mr. Paul Walton:  Yes?
Mr. Sidney Walton:  Yes.
Mr. Paul Walton:  Is this one of
the best days of your life?
Mr. Sidney Walton:  Yes.
The President:  That’s great.
That’s really nice.
Mr. Sidney Walton:  Yes.
Yes, indeed.
The President:  You have
a great family.
You have a great family.
Well, I want to thank everybody.
These are just terrific people.
We weren’t going to do this
with the media.
But, frankly, when I saw you,
I said, “We have to.”
And thank you. Great job.
Go ahead, please.
Mr. Jones:  Mr. President,
I want you to meet my wife.
We’ve been married 69 years.
The President:  Whoa.
(applause)
Mr. Jones:  And she probably
can tell you more about me
than I can tell myself.
The President:  Give us just the
good stuff, not the bad stuff.
(Laughter.)
Mrs. Jones:  Well, is there
much to say, then?
(Laughter.)
It’s all been good.
The President:  That’s great.
Mrs. Jones:  Couldn’t be
any better.
The President:  That’s
really nice.
I can see that in your face.
I can see that. Thank you.
Thank you all very much.
It’s a great honor.
Thank you all very much.
The Press:  Mr. President,
do you consider
WikiLeaks a hostile intelligence
service, like Mike Pompeo said?
The President:  I really don’t
know much about them.
The Press:  Do you regret
praising WikiLeaks?
The President:  I don’t know
much about them.
Thank you very much.
