US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and his entourage have been scolded by a military guard while visiting one of the most sacred US military memorials on Veterans Day.

Hegseth and a group that included his wife Jennifer and three advisers were posing for a picture at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

After their photo was taken and they began moving away from the empty steps in front of the memorial, a loud laugh could be heard ringing out from the group.

At that point, a member of the 3rd Infantry Regiment who was watching over the revered site loudly rebuked the war chief’s posse.

A video shows the sentinel crying out: “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier marks the resting place of unidentified US soldiers from both World Wars and the Korean War and has been guarded around the lock since 1948.

Hegseth and his staff were at the tomb on Veterans Day.

A larger ceremony at the cemetery was attended by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told AP that a soldier “correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum”.

“The Secretary and the entire Department have always honoured — and will always honour — the sacrifices our military men and women have made to keep America safe,” he added.

The incident came a day after ‌Hegseth survived an attempt by Congress to impeach him for his conduct in office and his handling of the war in Iran.

The Republican-led US House of Representatives blocked an effort to impeach him on Tuesday (US time).

The ‌chamber ⁠voted 211 ​to 204 in favour of a motion to refer the ⁠impeachment ‌charges to ​the Republican-led ​House Judiciary Committee, ‌effectively stopping the ​effort to impeach Hegseth that was sponsored by ​​Republican ​Thomas Massie.

The vote ‌on a procedural motion came just hours after Hegseth blasted efforts to impeach him as a farce and delivered a defiant defence of his record at the helm of the Pentagon, winning praise from President Donald Trump.

Republicans passed a motion to refer eight articles of impeachment to the Judiciary Committee, a move that the sponsor of the impeachment push, Massie, warned would kill ‌it.

Massie, an outgoing Kentucky ‌Republican, hoped to ⁠draw votes from Republicans upset with Hegseth’s policies and wary of the unpopularity of the ​Iran war.

Democrats had voiced strong support for the impeachment effort and they tried to help Massie clear the way for an impeachment vote.

Hegseth would have been the first US defence secretary to be impeached. The last time any civilian leader of the US military was impeached was in 1876, when William Belknap held the title “secretary of war”.

Hegseth calls himself secretary of war, part of his effort to ⁠rebrand a military he said was too weak and “woke” when he took ‌office in 2025. Trump cannot change the name of the Defense Department without approval from Congress.

Voter anger over the Iran ​war, which has ‌settled into an effective stalemate focused on securing the Strait of Hormuz, helped Democrats win control of Congress in last week’s ​midterm elections.

-with AAP