Obama makes Veterans Day visit to Arlington

[unhappycamper]

President Barack Obama, left, and Gen. Karl Horst, right, greet a visitor to Section 60 during an unannounced visit Nov. 11 at Arlington National Cemetery.


Obama makes Veterans Day visit to Arlington
By Julie Pace - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 20:22:41 EST

ARLINGTON, Va. — On a cold, rain-soaked Veterans Day, President Barack Obama walked slowly through the white, stone markers at the section of Arlington National Cemetery reserved for troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the two wars he oversees as commander in chief.

Obama led the nation Wednesday in observing Veterans Day with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington before an unannounced visit to the section reserved for those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We gather here mindful that the generation serving today already deserves a place alongside previous generations for the courage they have shown and the sacrifices that they have made,” Obama said in a brief speech following the wreath-laying. Obama pledged he would do right by all veterans and families, saying: “America will not let you down.”

The president spoke one day after honoring the victims of a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. He said he was struck by the determination of the soldiers there, a quality that unites generations of American servicemen.

“To all of them — to our veterans, to the fallen and to their families — there is no tribute, no commemoration, no praise that can truly match the magnitude of your service and your sacrifice,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_veterans_arlington_obama_111109/