‘It has been the greatest honor of my life to lead you, to serve you, care for you, to defend you just as you defended us,’ the president said.
President Joe Biden gave his final Veterans Day address at Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 11.
Joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, he praised the men and women who served and their families for their sacrifice and called upon them to keep fighting for American ideals.
“We’re the only nation—the only in the world—built on an idea, and that idea is we’re all created equal,” he said in his speech.
“We haven’t lived up to it every time, but we’ve never walked away from it, even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard. And today, standing together to honor those Americans who have dared all, risked all, and given all to our nation, I must say clearly, we never will give up.”
The president made his remarks after participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with Harris, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, and Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp, commanding general of the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region and the U.S. Military District of Washington.
Biden’s remarks were made less than a week after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, and he told the veterans in the audience, “It has been the greatest honor of my life to lead you, to serve you, care for you, to defend you just as you defended us.”
“Generation after generation after generation, you are the greatest fighting force, and this is not hyperbole, the finest fighting force in the history of the world,” he said.
Biden reflected on his term, touting his decision to end the war in Afghanistan and “not be the fifth” president to maintain it. He told the audience that he has signed into law more than 30 bipartisan pieces of legislation that support veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors, including delivering Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits to a historic number of veterans and bringing veteran homelessness to a record low.
Biden noted the passage of the PACT Act, which the White House described as the “most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years.”
The White House announced that more than 1 million veterans’ claims already have been granted benefits. He announced that the VA would expand the benefits to cover more types of cancers and include veterans who served at the Karshi-Khanabad base in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Southwest Asia.
“God willing, we all make sure that any rare condition you develop is covered,” Biden said. ”We’re committed to getting this rule in place by the end of my term.”
Biden also recalled his visits to historic battleground sites and honoring the soldiers who served there from Valley Forge, Gettysburg, and Normandy, France, to Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan.
He shared the worry that he said he and his wife felt during the holidays while his son Beau served in Iraq with the Delaware National Guard, and he extended a message of gratitude to Gold Star and POW-MIA families.
“To all those with a loved one still missing or unaccounted for, to all Americans grieving the loss of a loved one who wore the uniform, Jill and I want you to know we see you,” he said. “We thank you, and we’ll never stop working to meet our sacred obligation to you and your families.”