Washington
CNN
—
President Joe Biden commemorated Memorial Day on Monday with a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, marking the solemn yet personal occasion by expressing gratitude to those around the world who have died serving their country in the name of democracy.
“Freedom has never been guaranteed. Every generation must earn it, fight for it, defend it in a battle between tyranny and democracy, between the greed of the few and the rights of the many. This matters. Our democracy is more than just a political system. It is the very soul of America,” Biden told the crowd gathered for his annual Memorial Day address.
The president used the opportunity to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in service to their country and also to thank the veterans, survivors and families who were in the audience on Memorial Day.
“We gather in this hallowed place, at this solemn moment, to remember and honor the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of women and men who gave their lives for this nation,” he said. “Each one is literally a link in a chain of honor that dates back to our founding, bound by a common commitment — not to a place, a person or a president, but to an idea unique in the history of mankind: the idea of the United States of America. Today we bear witness to the price they paid.”
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
President Joe Biden speaks at the National Memorial Day Wreath-Laying and Commemoration Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC, on May 27.
The day also holds personal meaning for the president. Biden spoke about the death of his son, Beau Biden, from brain cancer, a death he believes is linked to the toxic incinerator exposure Beau was exposed to during his deployment to Iraq. Thursday marks nine years since Beau Biden’s death.
“Our losses are not the same. He didn’t die on the battlefield, but he got cancer from serving in the Army next to an incinerator for a year in Iraq,” Biden said. “A major in the Army National Guard, like so many others, lived and worked next to those toxic incinerators. Like so many of you, the pain of his loss remains vivid for me and for you every day. But so does the pride I feel that he served, as if I can still hear him say, ‘This is my duty, Dad, this is my duty.’ Duty is the code my son lived by and the code you all live by.”
Trump then mentioned signing the bipartisan PACT Act of 2022, which would have expanded health care benefits to millions of veterans who were exposed to incinerators that were used until about 2010 to burn trash, munitions, hazardous materials, chemicals and other waste at military installations across Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the VA, these large, open-air incinerators, which often operate on or near military bases, release dangerous toxins into the air, exposure to which can cause short- and long-term health problems.
“I’ve said for a long time that we have many obligations as a nation, but there is only one truly sacred obligation that we have: to prepare the men and women we send into battle, to prepare and care for them and their families when they come home and when they don’t come home,” Biden said, touting other bills his administration has signed to support veterans and their families.
Introduced by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Biden told the audience, “Our weapons and technology are the envy of the world, but at the end of the day, America’s greatest strategic asset will always be our people.”
“So let us always remember our fallen heroes. Let us always strive to defend the democracy they fought for and died for. They did their duty, and so must we,” Austin said.
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Biden will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Monday.
Before delivering his annual Memorial Day speech, Biden participated in laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then hosted a Memorial Day breakfast in the morning with administration officials, military leaders, veterans and Gold Star families.
The president’s remarks came just two days after his West Point graduation address, in which he noted America’s role as “the indispensable nation, the world’s sole superpower and the world’s leading democracy.”
“From the beginning, nothing has been guaranteed in American democracy,” Biden told the graduating cadets. “Every generation has an obligation to defend, protect, preserve and choose our democracy. Now it’s your turn.”
Alex Brandon/AP
Biden walks to address the graduating cadets during the U.S. Military Academy’s graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 25, in West Point, New York.
Biden is also preparing to visit Normandy, France in two weeks, where he will mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when soldiers “stormed the beaches of Normandy, liberated a continent and literally saved the world,” he said Monday.
The speech came at the start of what is expected to be a busy campaign period ahead of the November election.
Biden’s opponent in that election, former President Donald Trump, marked Memorial Day with a post on Truth Social attacking E. Jean Carroll and the judge who presided over her defamation, civil fraud and hush money criminal trial.
“Happy Memorial Day to everyone, including the human scum who are working hard to destroy our once great country,” Trump said in a lengthy social media rant.
