Hegseth also called on European countries to do more to contribute to their own defence, in a speech at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in Normandy.
However, he conspicuously skipped the main international ceremony later in the afternoon marking the anniversary of the Allied landings, which heralded an end to World War II.
“Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” Hegseth said.
On “beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive,” he said.
“When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?”
His comments echoed the argument of the administration of US President Donald Trump that mass migration represents a danger to European civilisation.
US Vice President JD Vance on Friday blamed Britain’s handling of the murder of a white student by a Sikh man on what he called civilisational decline caused by an “invasion” of migrants.
“May we learn from this past,” Hegseth said in reference to the pivotal involvement of US troops in the landings.
“The men buried here fought in a war-fighting alliance where every partner… brought its full measure of industry, courage and sacrifice,” he said in front of the 9,387 white crosses of American soldiers killed in action during the Battle of Normandy.
“Not empty slogans, not lavish summits, not communiques.
“Real allies doing real things, taking real losses for a shared cause worth fighting and dying for.”
Hegseth said that while America “will lead”, its “capable allies must be right there with us, shoulder-to-shoulder in the breach when it matters”.
The Trump administration has also accused Europe of not pulling its weight to ensure the continent’s security, and has even floated pulling out of the Nato alliance.
“Peace is secured only through strength,” Hegseth told the audience, including French armed forces Minister Catherine Vautrin, without referring explicitly to the US-Israeli war against Iran.
“And it’s strength on both sides of the Atlantic, fortified by readiness, shared military capabilities and an unwavering political will,” he added.
At the international ceremony on Saturday afternoon, which Hegseth did not attend, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu paid tribute to the “3,000 men barely 20 years old” who died on D-Day, offering “the breath of their youth and the sacrifice of their lives”.
Speaking to guests including veterans from the United States and also British Defence Minister John Healey, he hailed the “resilience” of Britain during the war, and the American people as “this great people, friends of liberty”.
In apparent allusion to American calls on Europe to look after its own defence, Lecornu said the continent had to meet “the challenge of our generation” to build “our autonomy, our capacity to defend ourselves” to face threats that are “getting closer, intensifying and multiplying”.
The Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, were the largest amphibious operation in history.
An armada of 6,939 ships and 132,700 British, Canadian, American, Belgian, Norwegian and Polish troops stormed 80 kilometres of beaches in northern France.
The operation contributed decisively to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, which was also being squeezed by Soviet forces to the east. (AFP)
