Trump, Biden honor America’s war dead

BALTIMORE » President Donald Trump honored America’s fallen service members on Monday as he commemorated Memorial Day in back-to-back appearances in the midst of the pandemic.

“Together we will vanquish the virus and America will rise from this crisis to new and even greater heights,” Trump said during a ceremony at Baltimore’s historic Fort McHenry. “No obstacle, no challenge and no threat is a match for the sheer determination of the American people.”

Earlier, Trump silently honored the nation’s war dead at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, which like Fort McHenry is currently off limits to the public because of the pandemic. Presidents on Memorial Day typically lay a wreath and speak at the hallowed burial ground in Virginia. But the coronavirus crisis, soon to claim its 100,000th life in the U.S., made this year different.

Many attendees arrived wearing masks but removed them for the outdoor ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Trump, maskless as always in public, gave no remarks. He approached a wreath already in place, touching it and giving a salute.

Trump then traveled to Baltimore, to the chagrin of the city’s mayor, and noted that tens of thousands of service members and national guard personnel are currently “on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus.”

The U.S. leads the world with more than 1.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than

EVAN VUCCI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump participate in a Memorial Day ceremony at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore.

ALEX BRANDON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrive to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, in honor of Memorial Day in Arlington, Va.