GEOFF BENNETT: On this Memorial Day, we hear from the president, secretary of defense and the chair of the Joint Chiefs.

They all participated in the annual commemoration of this solemn day at Arlington National Cemetery and spoke of sacrifice, remembrance, grief, and the last full measure of devotion so many have given so that the United States might endure.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Today, we once again gather in this sacred place, at this solemn hour to honor fallen heroes.

GEN. MARK MILLEY, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: This land where we stand today once housed three fort sentinels which overlooked and defended Washington, D.C., but now it serves a more solemn purpose.

It is the final resting place of our nation's bravest, a quiet testament to their sacrifice.

JOE BIDEN: We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers, and marble markers represent, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a sister, a spouse, a friend, an American.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: Every fallen hero has a story.

It is our duty to remember those we have lost.

It is our honor to stand with their families.

JOE BIDEN: Every year, we remember.

And every year, it never gets easier.

GEN. MARK MILLEY: Our nation's fallen are not only represented on these hallowed grounds.

They are represented on every piece of land where American blood has been spilled.

Sailors lie forever entombed in the twisted hull of the USS Arizona resting in the seabed at Pearl Harbor, and the white headstones of 9,387 Americans enshrined outside Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer in France overlooking the sands of Omaha Beach, as well as the more than 81,500 Americans who still remain missing, our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters who have never returned home.

The search for these missing will continue.

JOE BIDEN: A hundred and fifty-five years ago, our ancestors stood here and asked themselves, what brought our heroes to this hallowed ground?

Today, we must ask ourselves what can we do, what must we do to uphold the vision for which they lived and which they died?

Today, it's on all of us -- all of us -- to ensure that sacrifice was not in vain.

(TAPS PLAYING) AMNA NAWAZ: A day to remember, to reflect and to give our thanks.