BIDENS SERVE EARLY HOLIDAY DINNER TO TROOPS IN VIRGINIA
NORFOLK, Va. — President Joe Biden visited naval installations in Virginia on Sunday to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday week, introducing an early screening of the upcoming movie “Wonka” and sharing a “friendsgiving” meal with service members and their relatives.
The president and first lady Jill Biden headed to a packed auditorium at Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads to introduce the new film centered around the early life of Roald Dahl’s fictional eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka. It will be officially released Dec. 15.
He joked to the many youngsters in the crowd: “I like kids more than adults” and added “I wish I could stay and watch Wonka with you.”
Instead, the Bidens helped serve dinner with service members from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Gerald R. Ford at Norfolk Naval Station, the largest installation of its kind in the world, along with their families.
“You literally are the backbone, the spine, the spine of this nation,” the president said. “Only 1% of you, that’s all, that protects the 99% of us.”
The event featured around 400 service members and their relatives seated in folding chairs and around wooden, circular tables inside a concrete-floored hangar that included three display Blackhawk helicopters, a towering American flag and a screen with the image of the White House surrounded by falling leaves and the words “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“I mean from the bottom of my heart,” the president said. “Family members, you are the heart of this operation.” He said he would be passing out dressing and joked, “If you don’t like dressing, just come up and pretend you do and say hi to me.’’
But the president actually served up mashed potatoes while attendees lined up for the buffet-style meal. Jill Biden spooned out sweet potato casserole to attendees. They stood on either side of Chef Robert Irvine, whose foundation helped organize the meal, and both chatted up those going through the line, which included a lot of children.
At one point, a child asked Jill Biden something. She laughed and served a portion of casserole that contained all marshmallows, forgoing any sweet potatoes.
The menu also featured slow-roasted bourbon-brined turkey topped with giblet gravy and cranberry-orange compote, maple-mustard glazed spiral-cut smoked ham, brioche-cornbread stuffing, candied walnuts, roasted garlic and crème fraiche, and a toasted espresso mascarpone Chantilly cream.
As the event was wrapping up, attendees presented Biden with a birthday cake. He turns 81 on Monday.
Meanwhile, Biden’s 2024 Republican rival Donald Trump was scheduled for a military visit Sunday in Texas.