An emotional President Joe Biden was guided onstage as he attended a plaque unveiling Monday for his late son Major Beau Biden marking Veterans Day.
The president traveled back to Delaware Monday afternoon, with the White House giving no information about why he was making the trek home after spending the weekend away at Rehoboth Beach.
On-site he was spotted giving a smooch on the lips to sister Valerie Biden and hugging Beau’s widow Hallie – who famously dated Hunter Biden after Beau’s death from brain cancer in 2015.
The plaque was being installed at the Grubb/Worth Mansion in Claymont, Delaware, the town outside of Wilmington where the 81-year-old president was raised.
On his way to the podium, the president stopped to touch the Guardian of Defenders Monument, and then was guided over to the speaking location by Major General Francis Valala.
Valala said Beau was a ‘truly patriotic American soldier’ and said his job was to introduce ‘a local guy.’
‘Someone who grew up here in Claymont and took his engrained small town values with him on the world stage. The father of a servicemember, a leader who has done more for our military than anyone has in decades,’ Valala said.
Valala then pointed to the PACT Act – which increased veterans’ health benefits.
Earlier during the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Biden pledged to further enhance cancer-care for veterans exposed to toxins before he left the White House in January.
The president started his speech by mumbling through how he remembered the Grubb/Worth Mansion as a child.
It now serves as a headquarters of the Holy Rosary church.
In 2021, a Guardian of Defenders Monument was installed on the grounds on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.
That’s where Beau Biden’s plaque will reside.
‘He was so damn proud. So proud to be joining the military, the National Guard,’ Biden recalled.
The younger Biden, who served as Delaware’s attorney general, told his dad he had a ‘duty’ to serve.
‘That was the code my son lived by. Duty,’ the president said.
Biden spoke about how the United States is unique because it’s based on an ‘idea’ – and cited the Declaration of Independence, modifying the quote, ‘that all men and women are created equal.’
‘That’s why we were founded. That’s who we are. That’s who we were. That’s who we remain. And but because of our veterans, because of many of you, we’ve never walked away from it even though there’s been temptations to walk away from that democratic notion,’ Biden said.
‘Folks, Beau would be very honored, very honored by his plaque, though he would also say “dad, it’s not about me,”‘ the president continued.
Biden also said he wished to revisit the memorial plaque once his whole family could join him.
After the ceremony wrapped up, he took the motorcade to his church, St. Joseph on the Brandywine, to visit Beau’s gravesite.