President Biden headed to a packed Arlington National Cemetery to mark Memorial Day on Monday, offering a somber remembrance of service members killed in action.
“We gather at this sacred site at this solemn moment to remember and honor the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of women and men who gave their lives to this nation,” he said. Biden said. “Each, literally, a link in the chain of honor that goes back to our founding days, each bound by a common commitment not to a place, not to a person, not to a president, but to an idea unlike any idea in humanity. history: the idea of the United States of America.”
The president also commented on the death of his own son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015 from brain cancer believed to have been caused by exposure to toxic chemicals during his service in the Iraq War.
“I know it hurts,” Biden told families of fallen veterans. “The pain is still real. Still raw. This week marks nine years since I lost my son Beau.”
“The pain of his loss is with me every day, just as it is with you,” he said. “Still sharp. Still clear. But so is the pride I feel for the service. As if I could still hear him say, ‘It’s my duty, father. It’s my duty.'”
Biden was joined at Arlington by First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General CQ Brown Jr.
The president took advantage of the speech to comment on his commitment to veterans, maintaining his record in approving laws that favor military personnel and their families.
“Since taking office, I have signed more than 30 bipartisan bills supporting military personnel, veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors,” he said. “Last year, VA delivered more benefits and processed more claims than ever before in our history.”
“I have long said that we have many obligations as a nation,” he continued. “We have only one truly sacred obligation: to prepare those we send into battle and to care for their families when they return home and when they do not.”
Dozens of congressional leaders made similar comments in social media posts on Monday, the 156th commemoration of the day, with statements of remembrance and gratitude.
Biden’s comments are a stark departure from his general election rival, former President Trump. Immediately after a Social Posting the Truth with a graphic honoring the fallen, Trump attacked Biden and the judges who oversee his court cases, referring to those who do not support him as “human scum.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
