WASHINGTON — President Biden paid tribute to fallen U.S. troops at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday and said Americans “must continue to uphold our mission” in a Memorial Day address, remembering his own son who died of brain cancer.
“Today, we are not only the fortunate heirs of their legacy, but we also have a responsibility to uphold their mission, the truest memorial to their lives: the actions they take every day to ensure that our democracy survives,” the 81-year-old president said after laying a wreath at the military cemetery.
Biden, who lost his son Beau in 2015, said he understood the grief of families attending the annual event and pointed to the expansion of veterans health care under the PACT Act, which he signed into law in 2022.
“I know it’s painful. The hurt is still real and it’s still raw. This week marks nine years since I lost my son, Beau,” Biden said.
“Our deaths are not the same. He didn’t die on the battlefield. He died of cancer as a result of serving in the Army in Iraq for a year next to the crematoria. He was a major in the United States Army, National Guard, and he lived and worked next to those toxic crematoria,” he continued.
“And like so many of you, the grief of losing my father continues for me every day, just like it does for you. It remains sharp and clear. But so does the pride I feel in his service. It’s as if I can still hear him say, ‘Father, it’s my duty. It’s my duty,'” he continued.
“Duty. That is the creed my son lived by, and the creed you all live by. It is the creed that generations of soldiers have followed in battle. In the lands around us rest heroes who died in every major conflict in history. They defended our independence, maintained our Union, defeated fascism and built mighty alliances forged in the fires of two world wars.”
“Next week marks 80 years since American troops marched onto the beaches of Normandy, liberated a continent and literally saved the world,” said Biden, who is preparing to visit Normandy next month to commemorate the U.S. military’s role in the invasion of Nazi-occupied France.
“For decades, campaign after campaign, these warriors fought for our freedom and the freedom of others, because freedom is never guaranteed,” he said.
“Every generation must win it, fight for it, defend it in a struggle against dictatorship and democracy, against the greed of the few and the rights of the many.”
Biden added, “Our democracy is more than just a political system. It’s the very soul of America — how we’ve continually adapted over the centuries.”
