Memorial Day Marked by Parades, Ceremonies, Tributes

President Barack Obama honors the fallen at Arlington National Cemetery

President Barack Obama participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. (Photo credit: NBC News)

By Eric Tucker

May 30, 2011

WASHINGTON — Americans from Washington to California marked Memorial Day with parades, barbecues and somber reflection in a holiday infused with fresh meaning by the approaching 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The National Memorial Day Parade in Washington honored veterans and America’s war dead but also included special tributes to Sept. 11 first responders, victims and their families. Also fresh in the minds of parade participants and watchers was the killing less than a month ago of Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the attacks.

Elsewhere, military jets thundered through the sky above New York after a wreath-laying ceremony aboard an aircraft carrier that’s been turned into a museum, while hundreds of volunteers put small flags on the 25,000 graves at a sprawling military cemetery near Las Vegas. U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan also took time out to remember fallen comrades. …

President Barack Obama participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.

“Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we cannot ever fully repay,” Obama said in a speech. “But we can honor their sacrifice, and we must.” …

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Memorial Day 2010 (May 31, 2010)

President Barack Obama after laying a wreath at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois, on Memorial Day, May 31, 2010. (Photo credit: Jim Watson / AFP — Getty Images)

Memorial Day 2009 (May 25, 2009)

U.S. President Barack Obama takes part in a wreath-laying ceremony with Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe at the Tomb of the Unknowns on May 25, 2009, Memorial Day, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo credit: Mandel Ngan / AFP — Getty Images)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — May 30, 2010

No Chinese Support on North Korea

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, left, shakes hands with South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan before their meeting at the government house in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 29, 2010. (Photo credit: Lee Jin-man / AP)

One year ago today, I reported that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed no support for proposed U.N. sanctions against ally North Korea over its alleged sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, declining to join other key nations in blaming Pyongyang.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — May 30, 2009

Tensions Rise in Korean Peninsula

Two years ago, on May 30, 2009, I reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned North Korea that the United States would respond quickly if moves by the communist government threatened America or its Asian allies.