Biden honors veterans in ceremony at Arlington Cemetery

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden urged Americans to take a moment to honor those who serve in the military and their families on Monday, using the backdrop of Arlington National Cemetery to observe Veterans Day one last time as the country’s commander in chief.

“The world is dependent on each of you and all of us, all of you, to keep honoring the women and the men and the families who have borne the battle,” Biden said. “To keep protecting everything they fought for, to keep striving to heal our nation’s wounds, to keep perfecting our union.”

Biden’s remarks came after he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

The president has presided over the armed forces during a tumultuous four years. He has said one of the worst moments of his term was the deaths of 13 service members in Afghanistan in 2021 after Biden ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the country.

Service members have also been assigned to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russia and to the Middle East after attacks against Israel led by Hamas that killed 1,200 people. But Biden has not ordered large deployments of troops in either place.

In his remarks, the president recalled traveling to the battlefields where U.S. soldiers had fought, including his visit earlier this year to the cliffs in Normandy, France, above the beaches where troops began their offensive to defeat Nazi Germany during World War II.

“Just standing there, you wonder, ‘How in God’s name did they have the courage to do what they did?’” Biden said.

As president, Biden spent considerable effort trying to increase benefits and services for veterans and their families. He helped push through the PACT Act, which provides care for veterans who suffered the consequences of toxic fumes from so-called burn pits while deployed overseas.

The president also directed his administration to speed up the delivery of benefits, expand access to doctors and confront high rates of suicide among veterans. Jill Biden, the first lady, spent much of the past four years focused on helping military families economically.

Joe Biden has often said his efforts on behalf of veterans were driven in part by the death of his son Beau, who was a major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. His unit was deployed to Iraq in 2008, while Biden was running for vice president, and he later developed cancer and died in 2015.

The president has said he believes that his son developed his cancer as a result of serving next to football-field-sized pits of trash, jet fuel and tires that were burned by the military. The toxic fumes often settled over troops who, like his son, were stationed nearby.

“I still remember the day he asked me to pin his bars on him,” the president told the audience of veterans and military families at the cemetery. “He stood ramrod straight — how proud Jill and I, our entire family felt, like so many of you.”

It was largely because of his grief over his son’s death, Biden has said, that he did not run for president in 2016. People close to him have said he now regrets that decision because Donald Trump won that election.

Now, with Trump elected to a second term, some of Biden’s policies with regard to veterans and the military may be reversed. In his remarks Monday, the president did not refer to Trump, but he made clear how important he thinks it is to continue to support the men and women who serve the country.

“This is the last time I will stand here at Arlington as commander in chief,” he said. “It’s been the greatest honor of my life, to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us generation after generation after generation.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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