It was a day when the toll of American wars was honored in small towns and leafy suburbs and downtown parades across the country, with American flags clutched by the young and the old and waving from houses and civic buildings and grave sites.
Tributes took many forms. Along Constitution Avenue, thousands of people lined up Monday for the National Memorial Day Parade. There were tourists, picnickers, families in matching red, white and blue outfits, Boy Scout troops, and babies in strollers.
In Arlington's Section 60, where many service members who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, the loss and sacrifice seemed acute and at times heart-rending.
There, a 29-year-old widow named Natalie Schmidt laid on a blanket she had placed over the grave of her husband, Staff Sgt. Jonathan P. Schmidt. He had been gone just eight months — shot in Batur village in Afghanistan, five days before their son turned 3.
Schmidt had started her Memorial Day by scrubbing his headstone to an even more brilliant shade of white. The marker was surrounded by flags and flowers and mementos left behind by family members and fellow soldiers.
At the grave site, Schmidt listened to music that evoked memories and passed time "just talking to him." It was her first Memorial Day without him, she said, but she was glad to be at Arlington. "I cry to pieces when I'm at home," she said. "It's very peaceful here."
Obama mentioned such sacrifice as he took part in a Memorial Day observance at Arlington and continued a tradition among presidents of laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
The president paid respects to Korean War veterans, noting that it was the 60th anniversary of the end of fighting in Korea, but mostly dwelled on continuing sacrifices as more than 60,000 troops remain in Afghanistan. More than 6,700 troops have died in U.S. conflicts over the past decade.
Obama talked about three service members who recently lost their lives in the conflict and a mother's plea that her child's service in Afghanistan, now the nation's longest war, not fade from memory.
"As we go about our daily lives, we must remember that our countrymen are still serving, still fighting, still putting their lives on the line for all of us," he said.
When the ceremonies ended, Obama stopped at Section 60. Families crowded around the president and his wife, who were joined by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
"Can I give you a hug?" one woman asked Obama.
"Of course you can," he replied.
He turned to another young woman, who gave her name as Taylor. "Who are you remembering here, Taylor?" Obama asked.
