U.S. President Barack Obama paid tribute to the nation's veterans and their families during the Memorial Day holiday, as communities across the country host their own festivities.
President Obama joined his wife and top military commanders under the midday sun to solemnly place a wreath of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The memorial at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington is dedicated to the U.S. service members whose remains have not been identified.
Speaking to a crowd of veterans, their families and other spectators, Mr. Obama noted this was the first Memorial Day in nine years without U.S. troops fighting in Iraq. "After a decade under the dark clouds of war, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon," Obama said.
But the president emphasized how he understands that the end of U.S. wars abroad will hold little comfort for the relatives of the fallen. "Especially for those who have lost a loved one, this chapter will remain open long after the guns have fallen silent," he said.
US Marks Memorial Day to Honor War Dead
1/10President Barack Obama speaks at the Memorial Day Observance at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery, May 28, 2012.
2/10President Obama lowers his head during a wreath-laying cermony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, May 28, 2012.
3/10General John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, salutes before he observes Memorial Day at ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 28, 2012.
4/10A member of the U.S. Army Old Guard pays his respects at the grave of U.S. Army Major Douglas Sloan, before placing a flag at one of the over 220,000 graves of fallen U.S. military service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
5/10People visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, etched with the names of more than 58,000 U.S. servicemen and women who died in the war, on Memorial Day weekend in Washington, May 27, 2012.
6/10Cathy Ridge touches an American flag at the grave of her husband, retired U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Charles Edward Ridge, May 28, 2012, at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton.
7/10Visitors stop at the Korean War Veterans Memorial ahead of Memorial Day in Washington, May 27, 2012.
8/10With Arlington National Cemetery as their backdrop, motorcycle riders take part in the 25th annual Rolling Thunder First Amendment Demonstration Run in Washington, May 27, 2012.
9/10A Marine salutes as motorcycles drive past during the annual Rolling Thunder parade ahead of Memorial Day in Washington, May 27, 2012.
10/10World War II veteran Jesse R. Turner salutes while being comforted by Helen Marie Misel at a display of more than 1700 United States flags in Shawnee, Kan., May 26, 2012.
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Half a world away in Kabul, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan General John Allen held a memorial service for all troops that have died there since the start of the war.
General Allen, who also leads the NATO coalition in Afghanistan, read the letter of a young Marine who wrote to his parents before his death by a homemade bomb earlier this year. "We remember his life and his words, for they speak resoundingly and timelessly for our fallen brothers and sisters-in-arms," he said,
More than 6,400 U.S. service members have died in the Afghan and Iraq wars following the 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
This is the 145th anniversary of the large-scale observance, originally called Decoration Day, that took place in the United States three years after the country's civil war ended with more than 600,000 casualties.
