(Photos courtesy: Mark Knoller, CBS News, Twitter)
President Donald Trump has laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery as he commemorates Memorial Day in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump was joined by Vice President Mike Pence and his defense secretary. He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier overlooking rolling hills dotted with white tombstones.
First lady Melania Trump and other cabinet members were also in attendance Monday.
Presidents typically honor fallen military members by laying a wreath and delivering a speech at the hallowed burial ground across the Potomac River from Washington. But the pandemic has led to changes this year because of restriction on gatherings.
Later, he marked the holiday at Baltimore’s historic Fort McHenry where he noted that tens of thousands of service members and national guard personnel are currently “on the frontlines of our war against this terrible virus.”
The U.S. leads the world with more than 1.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases and is approaching 100,000 deaths.
Trump said brave warriors from the nation’s past have shown that “in America, we are the captains of our own fate.”
Fort McHenry is where a poem written during the War of 1812 became “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The fort is closed to the public because of the pandemic.
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