US President Joe Biden marked the country’s Memorial Day on Monday, saying Americans “should never forget the price” paid by service members who died fighting battles abroad.
“They gave their lives to protect the idea of the United States of America, that people can live in a free democracy,” Biden said at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.
Beforehand, he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the country’s 155th Memorial Day observance.
The president said the country has many obligations, but especially “to those who serve (in the military) and to their families when they don’t return home” after being killed in battles abroad.
He paid tribute to all the fallen, citing the pain he still feels over the death eight years ago Tuesday of his son Beau, who died of brain cancer at age 46 in the United States after serving with a National Guard unit in Iraq. . The president has often said that he believes his son’s health was affected there by toxic gases from a military combustion pit.
The Memorial Day holiday was first widely observed in 1868 as the country recovered from the Civil War. It became a federal holiday more than a century later, in 1971, always marked on the last Monday in May.
Since the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, more than 646,000 American soldiers have died in battle, while more than 539,000 died from other non-combat causes, Military.com reported in 2020.
While some Memorial Day celebrations, particularly in and around Washington, are marked by solemnity, many Americans spend the unofficial start of summer celebrating the weekend with barbecues and trips to the beaches.
More than 42 million Americans were expected to travel over the weekend, according to travel organization AAA, marking what was expected to be the third-busiest Memorial Day weekend since 2000, when AAA began tracking vacation travel.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg held a news conference last week over Memorial Day weekend, which he said would be “a test of the (air traffic) system.”
Last year, thousands of flights were canceled or delayed over Memorial Day weekend, but travel has been smooth so far this weekend before the return home for many travelers.
“More Americans are planning travel and booking it earlier, despite inflation. This summer travel season could be one for the record books, especially at airports,” said Paula Twidale, AAA’s senior vice president.
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