Veterans Day 2012: Obama Pays Tribute to Heroes (WATCH VIDEO)
President Barack Obama gave his Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday.
He paid tribute to "the heroes over the generations" who served in the U.S. military, The Huffington Post reported.
"This is the first Veterans Day in a decade in which there are no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq," President Obama said. "Thirty-three thousand of our troops have now returned from Afghanistan, and the transition there is underway. After a decade of war, our heroes are coming home."
"And over the next few years, more than a million service members will transition back to civilian life," he added. "They'll take off their uniforms and take on a new and lasting role. They will be veterans."
The president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and then added that "no ceremony or parade, no hug or handshake is enough to truly honor that service."
Watch the full video of the president's speech here.
Obama referred to the end of the Iraq war throughout his speech. The end of that war came in Dec. 2011 and it was marked by the packing up of a U.S. military flag during a special ceremony.
"Three years ago, I promised your generation that when your tour comes to an end, when you see our flag, when you touch our soil, you'll be welcomed home to an America that will forever fight for you, just as hard as you've fought for us," the president said. "And so long as I have the honor of serving as your commander-in-chief, that is the promise that we will never stop working to keep."
President Obama also praised the troops for their hard work defending the country.
"You toppled a dictator and battled an insurgency in Iraq. You pushed back the Taliban and decimated al Qaeda in Afghanistan," he said. "You delivered justice to Osama bin Laden. Tour after tour, year after year, you and your families have done all that this country has asked-you've done that and more.
