‘As one nation, we mourn’
Trump honors warriors and first responders
David Jackson
WASHINGTON – Amid a pandemic on the brink of claiming 100,000 American lives, President Donald Trump made Memorial Day visits to a military cemetery and a historic fort – and paid homage to service members responding to the coronavirus.
“I stand before you at this noble fortress of American liberty to pay tribute to the immortal souls who fought and died to keep us free,” Trump said at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore.
“Tens of thousands of service members and national guardsmen are on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus,” Trump said. “As one nation, we mourn alongside every single family that has lost loved ones.”
Earlier, Trump followed tradition by placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.
Joe Biden, who is running against Trump in November, also marked the day in his first public appearance in more than two months. Wearing a black mask, Biden placed a wreath at a veterans park near his Delaware home.