President Obama honors the fallen on Memorial Day

President Obama paid tribute on Sunday at Arlington National Cemetery to fallen American servicemen and women by recounting the stories of heroism and tragedy of those buried there.

“Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice, and we must,” the Obama said. “We must honor it in our own lives by holding their memories close to our hearts, and heeding the example they set.”

One such example of sacrifice, the president said, was made by two best friends who had met at the U.S. Naval Academy, Travis Manion and Brendan Looney.

{mosads}Manion, a Marine Corps first lieutenant, was killed in Iraq in 2007.

“While fighting to rescue his fellow Marines from danger, Travis was killed by a sniper,” Obama said. “Brendan did what he had to do — he kept going.  He poured himself into his SEAL training, and dedicated it to the friend that he missed.”

Looney, a Navy lieutenant, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

“Heartbroken, yet filled with pride, the Manions and the Looneys knew only one way to honor their sons’ friendship — they moved Travis from his cemetery in Pennsylvania and buried them side by side here at Arlington,” the president said. “‘Warriors for freedom,’ reads the epitaph written by Travis’s father, ‘brothers forever.'”

That story, Obama said, reflected the true meaning of Memorial Day: “Brotherhood. Sacrifice. Love of country. And it is my fervent prayer that we may honor the memory of the fallen by living out those ideals every day of our lives, in the military and beyond.”