‘WE CAN’T FORGET’
Biden honors fallen at Arlington service
President Biden led commemorations of Memorial Day at a ceremony honoring fallen US service members at Arlington National Cemetery Monday, calling on Americans to remember the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in combat and saying, “if we forget . . . then we forget who we are.”
The president began by honoring the “beloved daughters and sons, who dared all, risked all and gave all to preserve and defend an idea . . . the idea of the United States of America today as a nation.”
“If we forget the lives that each of those silent markers represent — mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses, children — if we forget what they sacrificed, what they gave so that our nation might endure strong, free, united, then we forget who we are,” Biden said.
“For so many of you — as is with Jill and me — hurt is wrapped around the knowledge that your loved one was part of something bigger, bigger than any of us,” he added. “They chose a life of purpose. Sounds corny like a Memorial Day speech but I mean from the bottom of my heart, they chose a life of purpose and mission. Above all, they believed in duty. They believed in honor. They believed in their country. And still today we are free because they were brave. We live by the light, the flame of liberty they kept burning.”
‘Worth fighting for’
Biden highlighted the obligation to protect US service members.
“The only truly sacred obligation we have is to prepare and equip those women and men we send into harm’s way and care for them and their families when they return home, and when they don’t,” he said. “This is an obligation that unites America, brings us together to make sure that women and men who were willing to lay down their lives for us [have] the very best possible return.”
He pointed to bipartisan legislation making its way through Congress that would provide benefits to veterans impacted by toxic exposure from burn pits.
“We have a duty to do right by them and I’m determined to make sure that our brave service families and members that served alongside them do not wait decades for the care and benefits they deserve,” Biden said.
He also reflected on the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Freedom has never been free. Democracy has always required champions. Today, in the perennial struggle for democracy and freedom, Ukraine’s people are on the front lines fighting to save their nation,” he said. “But their fight is part of a larger fight that unites all people. It is a fight that so many of the patriots whose eternal rest is here in these hallowed grounds were part of. The battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between the appetites and ambition of a few who forever seek to dominate [and] the lives and liberties of many.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today remember and we reaffirm freedom is worth sacrificing. Democracy is not perfect. It’s never perfect. But it’s worth fighting for,” Biden added.
In memoriam
Prior to his remarks, the president was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
After the ceremony, the Bidens returned to the White House and joined relatives of fallen service members for a magnolia tree-planting ceremony on the South Lawn.
Biden started Memorial Day by visiting the grave in Wilmington, Del., of late son Beau Biden, a veteran of the Iraq War and the former attorney general of Delaware who died at age 46 of brain cancer on May 30, 2015.