Biden honors late son Beau in somber Memorial Day message: ‘The hurt is still real’

President Biden addressed a packed Arlington National Cemetery to mark Memorial Day on Monday, making somber remembrance of members of the armed forces killed in combat.

“We gather at this sacred place at this solemn moment to remember and to honor the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of women and men have given their lives to this nation,” Biden said. “Each one, literally, a link in the chain of honor stretching back to our founding days, each one bound by common commitment not to a place, not to a person, not to a president, but to an idea unlike any idea in human history: the idea of the United States of America.”

The president also remarked on the death of his own son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015 from brain cancer believed to be caused by exposure to toxic chemicals during his service in the Iraq War. 

“I know it hurts,” Biden told the families of fallen veterans. “The hurt is still real. Still raw. This week marks nine years since I lost my son Beau.”