President Biden on Monday addressed the crowd at a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, where he remembered his late son, Beau Biden.
Biden shared the grief of those who have lost family members while serving in the military, saying this week marked nine years since he lost his son, Beau, who the president believes was killed while serving in Iraq and then stationed near toxic incinerators.
Still, the president was careful to draw a distinction between the loss of his son and those who have lost loved ones on the battlefield.
President Joe Biden delivers the Memorial Day address during the 156th National Memorial Day Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 27, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
“Our losses are not the same. He didn’t die on the battlefield. He died of cancer after serving a year in Iraq next to a crematorium. A major in the United States Army and National Guard, like so many others, lived and worked next to those toxic crematoria,” Biden said.
The president told the audience: “Like many of you, I feel the pain of his loss every day. It’s still painful and vivid. But so does the pride I feel in this service, as if I can still hear him saying, ‘Father, this is my duty. This is my duty. That’s what my son taught me: Live by your principles. You live by your principles.'”
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Beau Biden, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard, died of brain cancer at Walter Reed Military Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland in 2015.
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Biden has repeatedly claimed his son died on the battlefield in Iraq, including during a conversation with Marines stationed in Japan and during a speech in Colorado in 2022.
President Joe Biden, left, takes a break with, from left, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Army Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp during a Military Honors wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Biden kicked off the day by hosting a breakfast at the White House for administration officials, military leaders, veterans, and families of Gold Star recipients. Before the ceremony began, President Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Biden last year praised the VA for “distributing more benefits and processing more claims than ever before in our history.”
He credited the PACT Act, which automatically grants compensation for certain health conditions suffered by veterans exposed to toxic substances such as incinerators and Agent Orange.
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“After fighting for their country, these veterans for a long time had to fight to get the proper medical care and the benefits they earned, but that’s not the case anymore,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
