It's been referred to as one of the vital troublesome duties a president of the USA can have – comforting the household of an American service member killed in motion.
Whether or not in a letter, in particular person or over the telephone, a presidential condolence can imply quite a bit to a household coping with the sudden lack of a liked one.
President Biden held an emotional telephone name with the mother and father of Military Reserve Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, one of many troopers not too long ago killed in a drone assault by an Iranian-backed terrorist group on a US navy base in Jordan.
“Shawn, I want I didn't need to name,” Biden informed Shawn Sanders and Oneida Oliver-Sanders. “I do know there's nothing anybody can say or do to ease the ache. I've been there.”
“Sure, sir, we perceive,” Oliver-Sanders replied.
The President additionally provided his prayers.
“I simply need you to know that I … you’re in my prayers and in my coronary heart,” Biden mentioned.
Along with his condolences, the president informed the couple about their daughter's posthumous promotion to sergeant.
“That's one of the best information I've heard at the moment,” Sanders' mom, Oneida, mentioned in a video of the decision recorded by The Atlanta Journal-Structure (AJC). “Thanks a lot. You don’t have any thought how a lot this implies to us.”
The president additionally inspired the couple with a message of hope after sharing the losses in his life, together with his first spouse and daughter in a 1972 automobile accident and his son Beau, who suffered mind most cancers in 2015.
“There will likely be a day while you stroll by the park the place Kennedy used to play, otherwise you open the closet and also you scent her garments or one thing and also you smile earlier than you cry. That's when you recognize you'll make it. It takes a rattling very long time to get there, however I promise you that you’ll get there,” Biden informed the couple.
Biden and first woman Jill Biden arrived at Dover Air Pressure Base on Friday afternoon to witness the switch of the stays of the three American troopers killed in Sunday's assault. Additionally they met the households privately earlier than the dignified transfer.
At Thursday's Nationwide Prayer Breakfast on the Capitol, Biden acknowledged Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Sgt. Breonna Moffett by identify, all of them have been from Georgia and vowed once more to always remember their sacrifice to the nation.
“They risked all of it,” the president mentioned.
Friday is the second dignified switch that Biden has attended as president. In August 2021, he attended a memorial service for 13 service members killed in a suicide bombing throughout the botched withdrawal of US troops from Kabul.
As vice chairman in 2016, Biden attended the dignified switch of two American troopers killed in a suicide bombing at Bagram airport. He additionally attended one as a senator in 2008 after the household requested his presence and the Pentagon gave him permission to take action.
JFK writes to the Mourning Widow
Along with telephone calls and private visits, former presidents additionally wrote letters to the households of the fallen to precise their private condolences.
President John F. Kennedy wrote one such memorable condolence letter to the widow of U.S. Air Pressure Maj. Rudolph Anderson, Jr., who was the one service member killed throughout the October 1962 Cuban Missile Disaster.
Anderson died when his airplane was shot down over Cuba. He later turned the primary recipient of the Air Pressure Cross, the U.S. Air Pressure's second highest award for heroism after the Medal of Honor, in line with Folks Journal.
“I used to be deeply shocked by the lack of your husband on an operational flight on Saturday, October 27, 1962,” Kennedy's letter mentioned.
On the finish of the letter he inserted a handwritten notice: “Your husband's mission was of the utmost significance, however I understand how deeply you will need to really feel his loss.”
Lincoln writes a letter to the mom of 5 sons
One of the crucial well-known letters of condolence attributed to a president is the letter that President Abraham Lincoln despatched to Mrs. Lydia Bixby. She was a widow whose 5 sons have been mentioned to have been killed throughout the Civil Struggle.
Though the letter has been cited as reality over time (together with in a single scene within the Steven Spielberg movie Save Personal Ryan), Bixby's account of her loss has typically been disputed. In response to the Historical past Channel, researchers have decided that solely two of her sons died combating within the Civil Struggle. The third was honorably discharged and the fourth was dishonorably discharged from the military. The destiny of the fifth son is unknown, however he’s believed to have abandoned or died in a Accomplice jail camp.
Nevertheless, Lincoln most likely didn’t have this info when he wrote the letter. Some students have additionally debated whether or not he or his assistant personal secretary, John Hay, wrote the letter to Mrs. Bixby.
The textual content of the letter is under:
Government Mansion, Washington, November 21, 1864
Pricey Madam,
Within the recordsdata of the Struggle Division I used to be proven a press release from the Adjutant Basic of Massachusetts that you simply have been the mom of 5 sons who died gloriously on the sector of battle.
I really feel how feeble and fruitless all my phrases should be that ought to try and deceive you with the grief of so crushing a loss. However I can’t chorus from providing you the comfort that’s to be discovered within the thanks of the Republic for which they died to avoid wasting.
I pray that our Heavenly Father will assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and depart you with solely the commemorated remembrance of the liked and misplaced, and the solemn pleasure which should be yours in having laid so pricey a sacrifice upon the altar of liberty.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln
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