153rd National Memorial Day Observance to honor the Fallen at Arlington National Cemetery.

Transcript

Ladies and Gentlemen at this time the 56 state and territorial flags are being marched in by the joint services of our military. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Just this one. Yeah. I don’t know. Uh huh. Mhm. Right. Mm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. From Baghdad and one. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good morning. Ladies engines and closely to the 153rd National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery. The replaying ceremony will begin with the firing of a 21 gun salute indicating that the president of the United States has entered Arlington National Cemetery. It is requested that all persons viewing the read ceremony remains silent and standing, appropriate honor should be rendered for the playing of the national anthem and during the playing of taps. All personnel in the amphitheater should remain silent and standing and render appropriate honors during the playing of the national anthem and taps. If you have any cellular cellular devices, please set them on silent mode or turn them off. Thank you there. Yeah. Plus do you or your partner? Oh, who ready? On the go? Hey? Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Okay. Mhm Okay. Okay. Christmas? Oh Oh yeah. Uh huh. Uh huh Oh yeah. Yeah. Sector. Okay. Let’s go get it. What is it ready broth what please? Yeah, there. Yeah. Mhm. The war Yeah. Marta that will book. Yeah. Oh, freeze that. Oh yeah. Oh, don’t mhm Oh, post cold help. What will more okay. Yes. Mhm. Mhm Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ceremony you. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm Uh huh. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm Yeah. Uh huh. Mhm Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm Yeah. Mhm. Mhm Beer there to buy ready. What? Yeah. Great. Right, Right. Buddy. Yeah. Great. Well, yeah. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah, mm. Mhm. Yeah. Okay. Mhm. The President of the United States, The honorable Joseph R Biden Jr and the Vice President of the United States, the honorable Kamala Harris have arrived and are being greeted by the honourable Lloyd J. Austin. The third Secretary of Defense General, Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Miss Karen Durham Aguilera. Executive Director, Army, National Military cemeteries and Major General Omar J jones before Commanding General, Joint Task Force, National Capital Region and the United States Army, Military District of Washington. To the people appreciate your help. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Mhm. No, You know. Yeah. And Yeah. Mhm. Everyone everyone a little bit. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Right. Yeah. You want to look like, Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. That’s right. The ship, right. You have heard control I think doesn’t make them, it’s good for you. Mhm. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Mhm Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Okay. Mhm Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. You know, you can look okay. Yeah. Mhm Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Mhm. Okay. Yeah. Mm hmm. Mhm Okay. Okay. Yeah. Right. Yeah, I understand. Come on. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Oh yeah. In the case Uh huh. That is four. Okay. Good. Yeah. Yes. Oh, doing great. Yeah, Yeah. Yeah. Good question. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Mhm. All right. Okay. Mhm. Mhm Okay. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm Yeah. Okay. Mm. So just kind of going, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm Yeah. Mhm Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Actually, three dead trees or yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And Oh, jobs great shoulder off please please. Oh. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm That’s great. Just great. Mhm Yeah. Oh, George right called. Oh yeah, okay. Yeah. Mhm, Mhm. Mhm, Mhm, Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm, mm hmm. Mhm. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, mm. The wreath ceremony is now complete. The memorial day observance will begin momentarily. Please move to your seats. Mhm Yeah. Yeah. No, mm mm. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the arrival of the official party and remain standing for the implication and national anthem. Mhm Yeah, Yeah. Mhm. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mhm. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, chaplain, Colonel Michael Schellman, command chaplain, Joint Task Force, National Capital Region and the Military district of Washington. Please join me in prayer almighty God who is the champion of liberty, the champion of our freedoms and the God who loves us with an everlasting love today. Let us lift our hearts and prayers and thanksgiving to you for those patriots who paid the ultimate price by giving their lives in full measure for their country. With humble hearts, may we never forget their patriotism and commitment as a nation? We can never be grateful enough for the uncommon bravery of those sons and daughters who preserved our freedoms. Lord, thank you for the gift of liberty and the blessings of freedom that you have bestowed on our nation. The United States of America. Let us never forget these heroic souls, our brothers and sisters of days gone by some who never had the chance to grow old. Let us thank them for their sacrifice as it continues to be. Our blessing in their bravery continues to be our reward in your gracious name. I pray amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please join Sergeant, first class Brendan Curran and the United States Army Band Pershing’s own in the singing of our national anthem. Yeah. Oh, say can you see my don’t realize once upon me we had at the twilight’s last week. Who’s one stripes and bright stars through the parent lost height for the round. Once we watched were so garlands, lee streaming and the rockets right first through the night. That flag way or the land of the Free. Yeah. And the home of a breath. What? Yeah, Queen, please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome General Mark A Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mr President Madam, Vice President, Secretary Austin, Distinguished Gas, fellow americans and most importantly Gold Star families, those that are here and those that could not make it here. It’s an honor to join you all and solemn remembrance and reflection On this 153rd Observance of Memorial Day For the over one million Americans who have given the last full measure of devotion in service of their country. Since our founding, more than 42 million Americans have stepped forward to serve their country as soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, guardians and coast guardsmen. Their story is of course one of courage, selflessness and commitment. This memorial day. We honor their memory and the values they upheld so that we could live in freedom from bunker hill to Gettysburg from the Meuse, Argonne, Iwo Jima and Sean the I drank valley for the corn called Ramadi in Mosul. There are sacrifices, an example for all of us I could never forget and to always honor. At the first official Memorial Day ceremony held here at Arlington in 1868, Children who have been orphaned by the Civil War moved throughout the cemetery laying spring flowers on the graves of our soldiers Since that day, 153 years ago. On this day in May, we come together as americans to mourn, but much more importantly than morning, we come together as americans to remember remember that we owe the brave men and women who have lost their lives in service to this nation and remember to that behind every fallen comrade as a family, a family who sacrifices embody the soul. That is. America reflect on the dreams never realized the pain of a parent was lost, a child. The pain of a child was lost their parents for every day is Memorial Day for the families of our fallen, but today is also a day to celebrate the courage and how they lived and why they fought and remember that they live for something bigger than themselves. They fought for the values and traditions of this nation. They fought for the belief that under these colors of red, white and blue, all of us are americans and we hold these truths to be self evident that all men and all women are created equal and each we’ve all fallen new at freedom is worth fighting for and each of them made a difference. So it is up to us the living to leave these hallowed grounds today and recommit ourselves to the cause for which they died. But equally important to the cause for which they lived. It is our job to live a life worthy of their sacrifice. So may God bless our fallen, May God bless the families of our fallen and may God give us the strength to defend the idea that is America and ensure this nation shall not perish from this earth. It is my privilege to introduce the Secretary Defense, a man I have known for a quarter of a century and whose leadership and the crucible of battle I have personally witnessed. He’s a leader of extraordinary integrity and it is my pleasure to serve alongside him again. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my honor to introduce the 28th United States Secretary Defense Lloyd J. Austin the third Mr President Dr Biden Madam. Vice President Mr Imhof. General Milley. Distinguished Guest Service members. Gold Star Family members. My fellow veterans. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this solemn day. In this solemn place, we come together to remember and to renew our sense of common purpose and to reach out to those who have long mourn and to those who newly grieved mr president and thinking about joining you here today. I reflected on a meeting I held a few days ago with some of our gold star if and surviving families. one of them was Shannon Man, the wife of a marine reservist. They have three Children. Her husband Chris was killed by a suicide bomber on April eight, in Bagram Afghanistan. The first thing that she said in our meeting was simply, I’m going to try not to cry. And she told us that before her husband left on one of his deployments, she sat him down and said, God forbid something happens to you. But if it does, where do you want me to bury you? And he told her I don’t care. I just want to be near you. And today, Staff Sergeant Chris Stutland rest here in Arlington in section 60 alongside so many of his brothers and sisters in arms who made the ultimate sacrifice in action and this longest of american wars. Our gold star and surviving families wage a fight that goes on long after the funerals and it is our sacred duty to do more, to ease the burden at the shoulder on memorial day and every day because for as long as America has sent our sons and daughters into harm’s way. Those on the home front have also been on the front lines And Mr President, you know, firsthand, the pride of seeing a loved one put on our country’s uniform, You also know what it means to wait and worry while the son serves in a battle zone far away. And you know what it means to commit american troops to fight. And you understand the mixture of pride and stress and fear in love that all our military families live with as a former commander. I know these feelings myself for the loved ones of those who have fallen. Let me simply say, we know the depth of your sacrifice, but we can never truly know the depth of your loss. What we can do is honor the memory of those who lost, by caring for those who mourn them and by seeking to perfect our union and defend our democracy and by striving to live our lives in ways that advance the ideals for which they gave their own. It is indeed an honor to be here with all of you today. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States Madam, Vice President, Secretary Austin, Secretary McDonough, General Milley, Gold Star Families, my fellow americans, we’re gathered at this sacred place in this solemn hour, engaged in the most fundamental of undertakings the right of remembrance. Remember those who gave their all in the service of America, the service of freedom, the service of justice. Remember their sacrifice, their valor and their grace, remember their smiles, their loves, their laughter, they’re essential, vibrant and transcendent humanity. For while we stand amid monuments of stone must never forget. But each of these markers for those known and unknown here at Arlington and far beyond represent a precious life, a son, a daughter, a mother, a spouse, brother, sister, a friend, a neighbor to those who mourn A loved one today, Jill and I have some idea how you’re feeling. Our losses are not the same, but that black hole you feel in your chest as if it’s gonna you into it. We get I know the incredible pride You felt senior loved one where the uniform of our country and the pride they felt wearing it. Our son Beau’s service in the Della robbery National Guard unit year is spent deployed in Iraq was one of the things that he was most proud of in life. Yesterday marked the anniversary of his death and it’s a hard time, hard time of year for me and our family, just like it is for so many of you it can hurt to remember, but the hurt is how we feel and how we heal. I always feel both close to me on memorial day. I know exactly where I need to be right here honoring our fallen heroes because through pain and anguish of his loss, remember the pride on his face did I pinned those bars on his shoulders, all of you who are fighting. But the fresh pain of loss as hard it is to believe, I promise you this, the day will come with the image of your loved one, will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes. The bible teaches, blessed are they, that mourn for they shall be comforted. That comfort, that reassurance can be a long time in coming. But it will come. I promise you, and my prayer for all of you. Is that that that day will come sooner rather than later? Well, no memorials day origins lie in the wake of the Civil War or for the freedom of all, a war for Union, a war for liberty and for the preservation of the constitution. And calling for such today. General John Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order # 11. He directed the nation’s set aside a day to honor. And I quote those who died in defense of their country during the late Rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and Hamlet churchyard throughout the land. And so we have and so we do again today in our time where the Children of sacrifice made by a long line of american service members each a link in that chain of honor. We live by the light of the flame of liberty. They kept burning. We’re free because they we’re brave here on these gentle rolling green hills and across America and around the globe lie buried the heroes of the greatest experiment the world has ever known ever seen. The experiment bears the noble name the United States of America. Women and men, all those we honour today gave their lives for their country. But they live forever in our hearts, forever proud, forever honorable, forever american. They are, they are the sentinels of liberty, defenders of the downtrodden liberators of nations and still today americans stand watch around the world. Often they’re great personal peril. War and conflict. Death and lost are not relics of our american history. They’re part of american story here in Arlington lie heroes who gave President Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion. It did not only die at Gettysburg or in flanders field or on the beaches of Normandy, but in the mountains of Afghanistan, the deserts of Iraq In the last 20 years. and 60 when I walked through, it reminds me of the cost of war. Hundreds of graves, hundreds of grades are here from recent conflicts. Hundreds of patriots gave her all each, each of them leaving behind the family who live with their pain and their absence. Every single day. I want to assure each of those families, we will never forget what you gave to our country. We will never fail to honor your sacrifice each day. Starting when I was Vice President, United States, I carry in my pocket a number of troops killed during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not an approximation. Not rounded off numbers, but each lee behind an entire community and family today. That number is 7036, 7036. Fallen Angels have lost their lives these conflicts and this memorial day, we honor their legacy and their sacrifice duty, honor country. They live for it. They died for it and we as a nation are eternally grateful. You know, America has been forged and the basil and the fires of war, our freedom and the freedom of innumerable others has been secured by young men and women who answered the call of history and gave everything in the service of an idea. The idea of America. It’s the greatest idea in the long history of humankind. an idea that we’re all created equal in the image of almighty God. They were all entitled to dignity, as my father would say, and respect, decency and honor, Love of neighbour. They’re not empty words, but the vital beating heart of our nation and that democracy must be defended at all costs for democracy. Makes all this possible democracy. That’s the soul of America. And I believe it’s a soul worth fighting for. And so do you. A soul worth dying for heroes who lie in eternal peace in this beautiful place, this sacred place. They believe that too the soul of America has animated by the perennial battle between our worst instincts which we’ve seen of late and our better angels. Between me first and we, the people between greed and generosity, cruelty and kindness, captivity and freedom. The americans of Lexington and concord of New Orleans, Gettysburg, the Argonne bogeymen, Normandy, korean Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. And thousands of places in between. These americans weren’t fighting for dictators. They were fighting for democracy. They weren’t fighting to exclude or to enslave. There are fighting to build and broaden and liberate. They weren’t fighting for self. We’re fighting for the soul of the nation for liberty In simple, fair play, simple fair play and decency today is remember their sacrifice. We remind ourselves of our duty to their memory to the future they fought for. We owe the honor, debt a debt we can never fully repay. We owe them our whole souls. We owe them our full best efforts to perfect the union for which they died. We know that the work of our hands and our hearts to make grilled the promise of a nation founded on the proposition All of us, all of us, all of us are created equal and deserve to be treated that way throughout our lives, democracy is more than a form of government. It’s a way of being. It’s a way of seeing the world. Democracy means the rule of the people, the role of the people, not the rule of monarchs, not the role of the money, not the rule of the mighty, literally the rule of the people. The lives of billions from antiquity to our own. Our have been shaped by the battle between aspirations of the many in the greed of the few between people right to self determination and the self seeking of the dictator between dreams of democracy and appetites for autocracy which we’re seeing around the world. Our troops have fought this battle on fields around the world, but also the battle of our time and the mission falls to each of us, each and every day. Democracy itself is in peril here at home and around the world. What we do now, what we do now, how we honor the memory of the fallen will determine whether or not democracy will long endure. We all take it for granted. We think we learn in school you have every generation has to fight for. But look, it’s the biggest question or their assistant. The prize is the individual that bends towards liberty. It gives everybody a chance of prosperity. Whether that system can and will prevail against powerful forces that wish it harm all that we do in our common life as a nation. As part of that struggle, a struggle for democracy is taking place around the world. Democracy and autocracy. The struggle for decency and dignity, just simple decency, the struggle for posterity, prosperity and progress and yes, the struggle for the soul of America itself folks, you all know it. Democracy thrives when the infrastructure of democracy is strong, people have the right to vote freely and fairly and conveniently when a free and independent press pursues the truth founded on facts, not propaganda. When the rule of law applies equally and fairly to every citizen, regardless of where they come from, what they look like. Excuse me, wherever americans are there there is democracy, churches and synagogues and mosques, neighborhoods and coffee shops and diners, bleachers and kids baseball or soccer game libraries and parks. Democracy begins and grows in the open heart and the impetus to come together for a common cause. And I might know parenthetically, thank you taps. That’s what you do and that’s where we’ll be preserved for empathy is the fuel democracy. Let me say that again. Empathy. Empathy is the fuel of democracy. Our willingness to see each other, not his enemy as neighbors. Even we disagree to understand, But the other is going through state. The obvious our democracy is imperfect. It always has been when americans of all backgrounds, racist creed, gender identities, sexual orientations have long spilled their blood to defend our democracy. The diversity of our country and her arm and of our armed services is and always has been an incredible strength. Generation after generation of american heroes have signed up to be part of the fight because they understand the truth that lives in every american heart. That liberation, opportunity, justice are far more likely to come to pass in a democracy than an autocracy. If every person is sacred and every person rights are sacred, individual dignity, individual worth, individual sanctity. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We say those words so often. But think of it the right to vote, right to rise in the world as far as your talent can take you unlimited by unfair barriers of privilege and power, such are the principles of democracy. So why would you put these noble principles into practice? How do we do that? How do we make the idea real or as close to real as we can make it? This nation was built on an idea, the only nation the world building, and every other nation is built on ethnicity, geography, religion, etcetera. We were built on an idea, the idea of liberty, an opportunity for all. You’ve never fully realized that aspiration of our founding. But every generation has opened the door a little wider and every generation has opened a wider and wider to be more inclusive, include those who’ve been excluded before. It’s a mission handed down. generation to generation. The work are perfecting our union, 18 30 when we were young nation, this unionist, put their sexual interests ahead of the common good. A great senator, Daniel Webster rose in the capital to defend the union. To him, we’re not just a collection of competing forces, but a coherent whole. His cry first other just across the potomac in the capital resonates. Even now, he stood on the floor and he said, Liberty and Union, Now and Forever one and inseparable Liberty and Union. More than 142 years later when I first came to the United States Senate at a time when our country was so deeply divided over Vietnam, the struggle of civil rights, the fight of our women’s rights. I had the notion that my first task as I stood to make my first speech on the floor of the Senate, but all of a sudden hit me. I’m standing where daniel Webster had stood. His desk was next to mine and I was struck by the weight of history, as corny as it sounds by the legacy. The work were charged to carry forward liberty and union now and forever. Now as then. Unity is essential to life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And so remember those who gave their all the cause of unity and the cause of a nation that endures because of them. We must honor their sacrifice by sustaining the best of America. Well, honestly confronting all that we must do to make our nation fuller, freer and more just. You must remember that we may find the light and the wisdom and yes, to courage to move forward in the words of that great him fight as they know, Billy fought of old foreign remembering slides. Not just our history but our hope. Not just our solemn remembrance, but a renewed purpose. Not just our solace but our strength this memorial day. Remember that not all of us are called to make the ultimate sacrifice. We all are called by God and by history and by conscience to make our nation free and fair, just and strong, noble and hold to this battle, may we now dedicate our souls that our work may prove worthy of the blood of our fallen for this work. The work of democracy is the work of our time and for all time. And if we do our duty, then age is still to come and look back on us and say that we two kept the faith. There’s nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more american than keeping the faith. God bless the United States of America. And may the light perpetually shine upon the fall. May God bring comfort to their families and my God protect our troops today and always God bless you all. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen please stand for the playing of taps and remain standing for the benediction. Why? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah terrible. Please receive our closing prayer. Lord may we be inspired by the deep sense of loyalty, dedication and commitment of those we have remembered today renew our faith and allegiance to our nation and each other. Lord bless the families of our fallen. Bless our nation’s leaders and God bless America in your loving name. I pray amen. Ladies and gentlemen please remain in place as the official party departs and for the departure of the state and territorial flags. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Uh huh. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm mm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah mm. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm mm. Thanks ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s Memorial Day observance. Thank you for attending and enjoy the rest of your day. Mhm.