Bidens commemorate Vietnam Veterans Day with trip to war memorial

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden made a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Monday afternoon, where they were seen tracing the names of veterans from the memorial on a piece of paper.

The pair arrived at the memorial around 5:30 p.m., according to pool reports, and the first lady placed a bouquet of white flowers at the base of the memorial wall.

Another view of Biden’s visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on a DC spring night — pic.twitter.com/hN0FvJJD7X

— Nancy Cook (@nancook) March 29, 2021

The pair observed a moment of silence at the memorial after being greeted with cheers from a nearby crowd of onlookers. They then jointly traced the name of Dennis Shine, a Massachusetts-born Army corporal who died in 1969 during the war.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also visited the memorial earlier in the day.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the Vietnam Memorial to commemorate National Vietnam War Veterans Day. https://t.co/N1l2r8PBOb pic.twitter.com/X7AarzprH9

— NBCWashington (@nbcwashington) March 29, 2021

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended in January 1973, with more than 58,000 servicemembers killed in the fighting. South Vietnam, with which the U.S. was allied throughout the war, fell in the months after the U.S. withdrawal and the country as a whole was reformed as a unified Vietnam.