‘Democracy is not perfect… but it’s worth fighting for’: Biden pays tribute to Beau, Ukraine and the U.S. troops who died in Afghanistan and Iraq after laying a wreath at Arlington Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
- President Joe Biden delivered a moving speech in Arlington National Cemetery to mark Memorial Day
- Biden also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Monday, accompanied by officials
- He highlighted the lives of service members that were lost in battle as well as those who ‘died of injury and illness connected to their service’ in a nod to his son Beau Biden
- In particular Biden mentioned toxic burn pits, which he believes caused his son’s brain cancer
- The president’s son Beau Biden is a military veteran who served in Iraq with the Delaware National Guard
- Biden visited Beau Biden’s grave after 30-minute mass with Jill Biden, his sister Valerie Owens and grandkids
- He spent Sunday in Uvalde, Texas grieving with families of victims and survivors after a gunman killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers there
President Joe Biden championed the ideals of democracy and took time to reflect on the loss of his son Beau Biden and the losses of families across the country who have lost loved ones in the military in a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
Looking abroad the president also paid tribute to Ukraine’s defenders fighting against a Russian invasion and the American service members who died during the United States’ 20-year war in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
He made no mention, however, of the recent military deaths under his administration – including the 13 service members who were killed in Afghanistan during a suicide attack amid the military’s withdrawal from the country.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, today remember and we reaffirm freedom is worth the sacrifice,’ Biden said after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
‘Democracy is not perfect. It’s never been perfect. But it’s worth fighting for – if necessary, worth dying for.’
Remarking on the seventh anniversary of his eldest child’s death, the president continued: ‘Memorial Day is always a day where pain and pride are mixed together. We all know it, sitting here. Jill and I know it. Today is the day my son died.’
Beau Biden, who had been a Major in the Delaware National Guard, died after a battle with brain cancer on May 30, 2015, while his father was vice president.
‘He didn’t die in the line of duty, he came home from Iraq with cancer. It was the horrific cancer what stolen us from him – and him from us. But still, it always feels to me on Memorial Day – I see him not as it was the last time I held his hand, but the day I pinned his bars on him as a second lieutenant,’ the president said.
He went on say the ‘7,054 American military members’ who ‘gave their lives over 20 years of our Iraq and Afghan conflicts’ and ‘untold others who died of injury and illness connected to their service’ should serve as a reminder that ‘there is nothing low risk or low cost about war.’
Biden in particular highlighted the yet-unknown scale of military deaths that have come as a result of toxic burn pits – a personal subject for the president, who has said on multiple previous occasions that it’s a contributing factor to his son’s early death.
During the speech he also commented on the war in Ukraine – which Vladimir Putin has now been waging for more than three months – stating that the Eastern European country’s struggle is a reminder of the cost of freedom.
President Joe Biden participates in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honor of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 30
In addition to marking Memorial Day on Monday, the president is also reflecting on the seventh anniversary of his military veteran son’s death from brain cancer
Accompanying Biden at the wreath laying ceremony was his wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris (center) and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (right). Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley was also in attendance
Before arriving for the ceremony, the president was meeting with Gold Star families who had lost loved ones in the military
Before Biden spoke, Austin and Milley also delivered brief remarks at the ceremony
His speech included references to past US conflicts as well as Ukraine’s current fight staving off a Russian invasion
‘In this moment, when a war of aggression is once more being waged by Russia to snuff out the freedom and democracy – the very culture and identity – of neighboring Ukraine, we see so clearly…that freedom has never been free,’ Biden said.
‘Democracy has always required champions. Today, in the perennial struggle for democracy and freedom, Ukraine and its people are on the front lines fighting to save their nation.
‘But their fight is part of a larger fight that unites all people. it is a fight that so many of the Patriots whose eternal rest is here in these hallowed grounds were part of. A battle between democracy and autocracy – between liberty and repression, between appetites and ambition.’
In a veiled jab at Republican legislatures’ clamp-down on personal freedoms like abortion and voting rights, Biden called out ‘a few who forever seek to dominate the lives and liberties of many’ in ‘a battle for essential democratic principles – the rule of law, free and fair elections, freedom to speak and write and to assemble. Freedom to worship as one chooses, freedom of the press – principles that are essential for a free society.’
Biden was accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley.
Earlier the president and first lady hosted a Memorial Day breakfast at the White House for Austin and his wife Charlene Austin, Milley and his wife Hollyanne Milley, the second couple and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Roughly 140 others were also in attendance, comprised of members of various veterans’ organizations, other military service organizations, military family organizations, Pentagon officials, and other administration officials.
The president began Memorial Day with a visit to his late son’s grave – the seventh anniversary of Beau Biden’s death at age 46 after a battle with brain cancer.
In addition to serving in the military, he was also Delaware’s state Attorney General from 2007 up until a few months before his death on May 30, 2015.
The president and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden were seen bringing a pink bouquet of flowers to the grave early on Monday morning after attending a half-hour church service in Wilmington.
They were accompanied by their grandchildren and Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens.
The Bidens regularly attend Sunday mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine, where Beau Biden is buried.
Later, the president and first lady will attend the annual wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
The first couple will also be accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Wilmington, Del., Monday, May 30
They were seen carrying a bouquet of pink roses, which they seemingly laid on Beau Biden’s grave
The Bidens went to church for approximately half an hour on Monday, accompanied by their grandchildren and the president’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens
There, Biden will deliver his Memorial Day address, and then later will be joined by Gold Star families to plant a magnolia tree in honor of the lives lost.
The president frequently brings up his late eldest son, a military veteran, in speeches and conversation – particularly when discussing military service or personal loss.
Last week, hours after a gunman slaughtered 19 children and their two teachers at an elementary school in Texas, Biden empathized with the families now grieving by saying losing a son or daughter was ‘like having a piece of your soul ripped away.’
‘There’s a hollowness in your chest you feel like you’re being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it’s never quite the same,’ the president said.
He spent his Sunday grieving with those families in-person during an all-day trip to Uvalde, Texas alongside Dr. Jill Biden.
Returning to the White House on Monday morning, Biden was asked whether that visit motivated him to work harder on gun control.
‘I’ve been pretty motivated all along. The folks who were victimized, their families, they spent three hours and 40 minutes with me,’ the president said.
‘They waited all that time. Some came two hours early. The pain is palpable. I think a lot of it is unnecessary. I’m going to continue to push.’
Their first stop on Sunday was the makeshift memorial at Robb Elementary School, where an 18-year-old with an assault rifle locked himself into a classroom and began shooting for nearly an hour while police waited outside.
He walked for several minutes along the school sign lined with flowers, candles and written tributes to read the names of the victims, and at one point wiped away a tear.
The president also embraced the school’s principal, Mandy Gutierrez, and at one point was seen in conversation while holding hands with Dr. Jill Biden, Gutierrez, and Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin.
He ended the trip by meeting with survivors and families of victims for more than three hours, followed by a face-to-face with first responders in the close-knit southwestern Texas community.
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