Obama urges more for veterans

During a Sunday morning visit to Arlington National Cemetery, President Barack Obama told the nation’s veterans that “we must do more” to support them when they return home.

“Today, a proud nation expresses our gratitude, but we do so mindful that no ceremony or parade, no hug or handshake is enough to truly honor that service,” Obama said during the Veterans Day observance. “We must commit, this day and every day, to serving you as well as you served us.”


The president focused his remarks on the veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a group that will top one million in the next few years.

“This is the first Veterans Day in a decade in which there are no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq; 33,000 of our troops have now returned from Afghanistan and the transition there is under way,” he said. “As they come home, it falls to us, their fellow citizens, to be there for them and their family.”

Obama also noted the delayed claims process for benefits and pressed for urgent help and faster treatment, especially for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“No veteran should have to wait months or years for the benefits you’ve earned, so we will continue to attack the claims backlog,” he said. “We won’t let up.”

Obama placed a wreath at Arlington’s Tomb of the Unknowns.