Bidens Share ‘Friendsgiving’ Dinner With Fort Bragg Troops, Remember Beau
Bidens Share ‘Friendsgiving’ Dinner With Fort Bragg Troops, Families
NOV. 23, 2021 | BY C. TODD LOPEZ, DOD NEWS
President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden enjoyed a “Friendsgiving” dinner with troops and their families last night at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The president and first lady touched on the upcoming holidays and the struggles endured by military families — struggles which are often amplified when service members are deployed during family-focused holidays.
“I want to thank your families because they stand and wait,” the president told service members. “I know how hard it is to have someone who’s not at the table on a holiday — that are in harm’s way, that find themselves out of the country.”
The president said that he and the first lady are aware of the struggles of having a family member away during the holidays because their son, Beau, served as a major in the Delaware National Guard and was away during the 2008 holidays on a year-long deployment to Iraq.
“You do so much, and your families give so much,” Biden told service members. “You’re the … finest military that the world has ever seen.”
Through the “Joining Forces” initiative, the first lady has made military families a major focal point of her time in the White House, both now and when her husband served as vice president.
Joining Forces is an initiative to support the families of service members, veterans, caregivers and survivors.
“I know what it’s like to see that empty seat at the table and … just how hard it is for the families,” the first lady said. “I want to thank all of you. That’s why we came to have dinner with you, to say ‘thank you’ to you. We’re so grateful for everything that you do.”
Army Veteran Beau Biden served in Iraq.
Beau was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1969. At the age of three, he survived a car accident that claimed the lives of his mother and sister.
He joined the military in 2003 as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard. He in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps with the 261st Signal Brigade.
Beau was elected as the Attorney General of Delaware in 2006, and reelected in 2010.
His unit was activated and deployed to Iraq in October 2008. While in Iraq, he announced he would continue to serve as Delaware’s Attorney General by working with his office’s senior staff in Delaware. Beau was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Iraq.
Army Chief of Staff Raymond Odierno presented Biden with a Legion of Merit for his time in the Guard.
His education included degrees from University of Pennsylvania and Syracuse University.
On May 30, 2015, Beau passed away at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after a fight with brain cancer.
We honor his service.
Beau Biden worked in Kosovo after the 1998-99 war with U.S. military forces and also with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to help train local prosecutors and judges, RFE reported