Obama, Romney to commemorate Memorial Day with veterans

President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney will both commemorate Memorial Day with tributes to military veterans.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama will participate in the traditional event at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. The Obamas and Vice President Biden's wife, Jill, will also attend an event at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on the National Mall to mark the 50th anniversary of the war.

“This month, we’ll begin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, a time when, to our shame, our veterans did not always receive the respect and the thanks they deserved — a mistake that must never be repeated," the president said in a statement circulated by the White House.

The president and first lady will meet with Gold Star families before each event, and the vice president and his wife will attend an event Friday to honor military families who lost a relative on active duty.

Mitt Romney, meanwhile, will hold a Memorial Day tribute with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the Veterans Museum & Memorial Center in San Diego on Monday.

McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and a prominent Romney backer, was a Navy captain who was captured and held as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. San Diego is the host to the largest naval fleet in the world.

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