Former Sen. Bob Dole — decorated World War II veteran, longtime lawmaker and former presidential candidate — was honored Friday at Washington National Cathedral before being brought back to his home state of Kansas and eventually laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
President Joe Biden delivered a eulogy at the funeral, which aired on ABC News Live, as well as on video screens at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall for public viewing.
He spoke of how Dole, at the age of 21, was gravely wounded in Italy when hit by enemy fire during World War II.
“Nearly eight decades on, we’ve gathered here in a world far different from the mountainous battlefield in 1945. But there’s something that connects that past and present, wartime and peace, then and now,” Biden said. “The courage, the grit, the goodness, and the grace of a 2nd lieutenant named Bob Dole, who became congressman Dole, senator Dole, statesman, husband, father, friend, colleague, and a word that’s often overused but not here, a genuine hero.”
