LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal student loan debt owed by tens of thousands of disabled military veterans will be erased under a directive President Donald Trump signed Wednesday.

Trump ordered the Education Department to “eliminate every penny of federal student loan debt” owed by American veterans who are completely and permanently disabled.

Trump said they won’t have to pay federal income tax on the forgiven debt and called on states to waive their taxes on the loans, too.

America, he said, owes its heroes “a supreme debt of gratitude.”

Trump’s announcement at the AMVETS national convention in Louisville elicited loud applause from the more than 2,500 veterans.