Biden appears at memorial in Wilmington, first public event in 2 months
Joe Biden ventured out of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, for his first brief public event in two months on Monday, to observe Memorial Day. Accompanied by his wife Dr. Jill Biden, he laid a flower wreath at Wilmington Memorial Park. The Bidens, who both wore black masks, placed the wreath of white roses before the Memorial Wall, which includes 15,000 names of men and women from Delaware and New Jersey who died in World War II and the Korean War, according to the Memorial's website.
The two paused in front of the memorial for about a minute and then walked away, hand in hand. Biden also saluted a small group of veterans who were also at the memorial and thanked them for their service.
Asked by reporters what message he wanted to send today, Biden replied, "Never forget the sacrifices that these men and women made. Never, ever, forget," according to the pool reporter. Biden has attended Memorial Day events at this park in the past, according to his campaign.
He also said that it "feels good to be out of my house."
The visit to the Delaware memorial site came nearly five years after Mr. Biden's son, Beau Biden, died of glioblastoma, on May 30, 2015. The younger Biden was Delaware's attorney general and served as a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq for a year in 2008.
The former vice president has often spoken about his late son on the campaign trail and described his ordeal in a 2017 book, "Promise Me, Dad."
Bo Erickson contributed to this report.