THERE WERE EMOTIONAL scenes in Delaware yesterday as Beau Biden, the son of US vice president Joe Biden, was laid to rest.
US President Barack Obama gave a speech at the funeral of the 46-year-old, who died eight days ago from brain cancer.
“He did in 46 years what most of us couldn’t do in 146,” Obama told mourners. “He left nothing in the tank.”
Obama called himself part of the Biden clan, and described Beau Biden as a selfless son and a true public servant.
“He [chose to] live a life of meaning…. a life for others,” Obama told mourners, recalling how Beau Biden overcame an early family tragedy and chose to dedicate his life to other people.
“Beau Biden brought to his work a mighty heart, he brought to his family a mighty heart,” Obama said.
The US president quoted Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh in his remarks, saying:
“A man,” wrote an Irish poet, “is original when he speaks the truth that has always been known to all good men.” Beau Biden was an original.
“[Joe's mother] told Joe once that out of everything bad that happens to you, something good will come if you look hard enough. And I suppose she was channeling that same Irish poet with whom I began today, Patrick Kavanagh, when he wrote, “And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.”
Source: Associated Press
Joe Biden led the mourners at a Catholic church in Delaware at a funeral service which was attended by his family, politicians, military leaders, and other mourners. He did not speak at the funeral.
For the US vice president, the death marked yet another untimely loss. He lost his wife and his infant daughter in a car crash in 1972, which left Beau and his brother Hunter badly injured.
Beau Biden, who was the oldest son of the vice president, had been diagnosed with brain cancer two years ago.
He had served for two terms as the attorney general for Delaware, and had been planning to run for governor of the state. He had also served in Iraq.
"He was our protector, our mediator, the captain of our lives," his sister Ashley Biden told mourners, describing how she would accompany her brother to his chemotherapy treatments.
The chief of staff of the US Army, General Ray Odierno, called him "a father, a husband, a son, a friend, a leader, a soldier and a patriot".
His life was far too short, Odierno said, but Beau Biden had "a life that had incredible meaning and a life that left an indelible mark on all of us".
Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin performed the group's song 'Till Kingdom Come' during the service. The White House said that Beau Biden had been a Coldplay fan and that Martin had offered to sing when he found out.
Hunter Biden, 45, said his earliest memory was of lying next to bis brother in the hospital after the 1972 car crash, when Beau has holding his hand and telling him, 'I love you'.
"And as it began, so did it end," Hunter Biden said, describing his brother's final moments in hospital surrounded by family.
"Each of us desperately, desperately holding him. Each of us whispering, "I love you, I love you, I love you". I held his hand, and he took his last breath, and I know that I was loved".
Additional reporting by Associated Press
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