ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — President Joe Biden has honored America's war dead at Arlington National Cemetery.

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In sober Memorial Day remarks, the president extolled the sacrifices of the fallen for the pursuit of democracy, which he called “the soul of America.”

Biden invoked the iconic battles of history and joined them to the present as he implored Americans to rise above the divisions straining the union.

He described those divisions in stark terms — as a perennial battle between “our worst instincts” and “our better angels."

Biden laid a wreath at the hallowed burial ground, cupping it in his hands in silent reflection as cicadas chattered loudly.

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