ARMEND NIMANI/AFP/Getty ImagesIt's been over a year since Vice President Joe Biden lost his son Beau to cancer, but his memory lives on in a land close to both of their hearts.
America's second-in-command arrived in Kosovo Wednesday to pay tribute to the 46-year-old former Delaware attorney general. He tragically died in May 2015 after battling brain cancer for years. Joe was in good company, surrounded by his wife Dr. Jill Biden, their son Hunter Biden, Joe's sister Valerie Biden Owens, Beau's widow Hallie Biden and Beau's children, daughter Natalie and son Hunter.
The family paid their respects during a dedication ceremony held at Camp Bondsteel, the main base of the United States Army under KFOR command in Kosovo. The spot is significant for the father and son as they had first visited the base together in 2001. Beau was visiting the war-torn region as a legal advisor helping to rebuild the justice system and felt moved by what he witnessed to serve.
"He came to Bondsteel, saw your predecessors here and decided he had to be part of it. He had to be part of it. Like all of you, he's crazy, thank God for America—he is—and I just want to tell you that I admire what you're doing," Joe said in an address at the camp in September 2009.
"He was inspired by what he saw then and by the women and men he met here at Bondsteel. And now, as I said, he is, like you, he's serving away from his family, like so many thousands and tens of thousands of Americans."
After joining the military as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard and as a major in the Judge Advocate General Corps, he deployed to Iraq in 2008 and served until September 2009, while simultaneously acting as Delaware's attorney general. The Kosovo government honored the public servant and his past commitment with a statue and 21-mile road named "Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III National Road."
"Beau talked to me about his time over there and how he came back from that experience in Kosovo very much committed to sign up for the National Guard," Joe told the audience during the ceremony.
"We've got to focus on what Beau was about and devote our lives to making fulfilled what he fought so hard for," the VP continued. "That's how my family views this day. That's how we view what we're about—to know that five, 10, 20, 60 years from now, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, my great-great-grandchildren because I assure you, every Biden born will make this trip. Every Biden born will make the trip to see that monument to their father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great grandfather."