Biden recounts unconsolable grief in remarks to families of fallen troops

Vice President Joe Biden, in a deeply emotional speech Friday to the families of fallen U.S. troops, recalled sympathizing with those who commit suicide, noting he felt the same after his daughter and first wife were killed in a car accident.

“I probably shouldn’t say this with the press here, but no, but it’s more important. You’re more important. For the first time in my life, I understood how someone could consciously decide to commit suicide," he said.

"Not because they were deranged. Not because they were nuts. Because they had been to the top of the mountain, and they just knew in their heart they would never get there again," Biden said. "That there was never going to get — never going to be that way again.

"That's how an awful lot of you feel."

Biden had just been elected to the Senate in 1972 but had yet to take office when his 18-month-old daughter and his wife, Neilia, were struck by a tractor-trailer and died. Biden's two sons were also critically injured, but survived.

Biden spoke to families of fallen military troops Friday at an annual military survivor seminar and "Good Grief Camp" in Arlington, Va. The event was part of the White House's efforts to commemorate Memorial Day on Monday and the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.

He told his listeners that things "can and will get better," adding that a day would come when the memory of those who were lost will bring a smile before a tear.

---