“I’m not joking when I say I’m thankful for these guys,” the president said when asked what he was thankful for, referring to the Coast Guard members standing ramrod straight before him on the grounds as he departed.
“They see them,” he said of members of the Coast Guard and the other branches of the U.S.
They did not visit in 2015 following Beau’s death earlier that year from brain cancer at age 46, or in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on big family gatherings.
Biden’s entire family flew up with him Tuesday night on Air Force One to resume the Thanksgiving tradition: his wife; son Hunter and his wife, Melissa and their toddler son Beau; daughter Ashley; and grandchildren Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Natalie and young Hunter, as well as Naomi’s fiance, Peter Neal.
The president has credited the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines with helping ease the return of family gatherings this holiday season, although a resurgent virus has fueled an increase in new infections in the U.S.Jill Biden was heard telling the Coast Guard members she would see them again Friday night at Nantucket’s annual Christmas tree lighting, another Biden tradition.