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Trump Salutes US War Dead on Memorial Day

VOA News

   U.S. President Donald Trump paid tribute Monday to the nation's war
   dead on Memorial Day in a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington
   National Cemetery outside Washington.
   The U.S. leader touched the wreath of red, white and blue flowers and
   saluted the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that is inscribed with the
   gratitude of the country: "Here rests in honored glory an American
   soldier known but to God." A bugler played "Taps."
   Trump was accompanied to the ceremony by Vice President Mike Pence and
   Defense Secretary Mark Esper. First Lady Melania Trump and Second Lady
   Karen Pence watched from steps nearby along with other dignitaries.
   But there was evidence of the ongoing coronavirus threat at this year's
   annual Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington, the country's most prominent
   cemetery for U.S. service men and women. Trump did not address the
   crowd as in years' past and people attending the ceremony socially
   distanced themselves two meters apart from each other. Some military
   personnel wore face masks.
   As Trump's motorcade wound through the grassy knolls of the cemetery,
   cannons boomed out a salute to the fallen service members. Soldiers in
   dress uniforms and with masks saluted as the motorcade passed countless
   rows of headstones, all marked with small American flags.
   Memorial Day is observed annually in the U.S. on the last Monday in May
   to honor the hundreds of thousands of U.S. servicemen and women who
   sacrificed their lives for their country.

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