May 25, 2020
(As delivered)
On Memorial Day, Americans and their families, along with the people of allied countries like Italy, join at the final resting places of the men and women who gave their lives during wartime.
This year, we pay our tribute in a different way, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although we may be physically apart, but we come together in spirit to express our profound gratitude for their supreme sacrifice in the name of freedom and democracy shared values that we cherish.
Today we pay our respects to soldiers, like my uncle, who faced their final moments far from home. During World War II, American soldiers sacrificed everything on behalf of their nation and for the freedom of Europe.
From the ashes of that painful experience, we have forged the friendship that binds America and Italy today.
It is a matchless friendship that keeps us working, side-by-side, to stop this terrible disease.
Our military cemeteries may be closed to the public now, but our thoughts—our prayers—are stronger than ever, stronger than the virus we are now fighting.
I would like to thank the American Battle Monuments Commission for taking such outstanding care of our military cemeteries here in Italy, and around the world.
Thanks to the them, we can commemorate our soldiers every day.
I am honored to join you in this tribute. We can never repay the debt we owe our fallen heroes, but we can, and we should, remember their sacrifice in eternity.
Thank them. Thank you.
