In a video posted to X, Pete Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer, said they chose to spend the holiday aboard Navy warships with sailors supporting Southern Spear, a mission targeting narco-terror networks across Latin America. (@SecWar via X)
"Our minds are also in Washington, D.C., with the two great Americans who were ambushed and targeted," Pete Hegseth said. "And we're prayerful for them, for all those around them, for their families."
The Hegseths visited both the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill, according to the Department of War.
In another video posted to X, the Hegseths were seen serving Thanksgiving plates to sailors.
"I give out too much candy at Halloween and too much turkey on Thanksgiving," Pete Hegseth joked.
Aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, the war secretary delivered a Thanksgiving address to the crew. (@DOWResponse via X)
"Whether it's in our nation's capital, walking patrol, or whether it's in our nation's hemisphere, out at sea, interdicting cartels, defending the American people — we are grateful for you," Pete Hegseth said.
He added, "So on this Thanksgiving, on behalf of my wife and I, Jennifer, who is here with me as well and will meet many of you, we simply say thank you, our deepest gratitude, and we renew how committed we are to you and your families."
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The war secretary closed with George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation and added a prayer for all deployed forces.
"Godspeed, God bless, you are in our prayers, and we are grateful. Thank you. Thank you very much."
Sophia Compton is a Writer at Fox News Digital. Sophia was previously a business reporter covering finance, energy and tourism and has experience as a TV news producer. She graduated with a journalism degree in 2021 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/war-secretary-pete-hegseth-spends-thanksgiving-us-troops-latin-america-we-are-grateful-for-you