Trump honors fallen, families in Memorial Day address
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Va. — President Donald Trump on Monday expressed the nation’s “boundless” gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice paid by Americans defending the United States, dedicating his first Memorial Day address as commander in chief to a top Cabinet secretary and two other familieswho lost loved ones.
Participating in the somber, annual observance at Arlington National Cemetery, Mr. Trump recounted the stories of Green Beret Capt. Andrew D. Byers of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Specialist Christopher D. Horton of the Oklahoma National Guard as Capt. Byers’ tearful parents and Specialist Horton’s emotional widow looked on.
Mr. Trump also singled out for special mention Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, a retired Marine four-star general whose son, Marine 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly, was killed in November 2010 after he stepped on a land mine while on patrol in southern Afghanistan.
To all Gold Star families, Mr. Trump said of their lost service members: “They each had their own names, their own stories, their own beautiful dreams. But they were all angels sent to us by God and they all share one title in common — and that is the title of hero, real heroes.”
Specialist Horton, a sniper sent to Afghanistan in 2011, died in a gunbattle with the Taliban near the Pakistan border three months into his deployment. Capt. Byers was on his third combat tour and, Mr. Trump said, ran through smoke and a hail of bullets to rescue an Afghan soldier when he was killed last November.
Mr. Kelly’s other son, Johnny, is getting ready for his fifth military deployment. A son-in-law, Jake, is a wounded warrior.
Mr. Trump also recognized former U.S. Sen. and GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole, 93, who suffered lifelong injuries during World War II. He attended the ceremony along with his wife, Elizabeth Dole.
“As we honor the brave warriors who gave their lives for ours, spending their last moments on this earth in defense of this country and of its people, words cannot measure the depth of their devotion, the purity of their love or the totality of their courage,” Mr. Trump said.
Before the remarks, Mr. Trump laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, touching it for a long moment before stepping away. He then rested his hand on his heart as a bugler played “Taps.”
Stepping to the microphone to deliver the address, Mr. Trump seemed to relish the warm welcome from the audience gathered in the sun-splashed amphitheater. Mr. Trump has been feeling particularly aggrieved in recent weeks by federal and congressional investigations into contacts between his associates and Russian governmentofficials.
The president was accompanied to Arlington cemetery by Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as a slew of advisers and Cabinet members.
After the address, Mr. Trump visited a section of the cemetery for service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House said Mr. Trump visited the gravesite of Robert Kelly in Section 60.