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The
event took place in a flag-bedecked hangar at Naval Station
Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia.
The Bidens participation in the gathering for friends known as "Friendsgiving"
kicked off the week ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday
on Thursday. Biden served up portions of mashed potatoes and
Jill Biden spooned out sweet potato casserole as the diners
passed in front of them.
The Friendsgiving event included service members and military
families associated with the Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Gerald
R. Ford aircraft carriers.
Both vessels are deployed in the eastern Mediterranean in
response to tensions from the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"You literally are the spine, the sinew, the backbone of this
operation," Biden said. Of the family members of those deployed
abroad, he added: "You family members are the heart of this
operation."
Biden will conduct the traditional pardoning of the National
Thanksgiving Turkey on Monday, and then leave on Tuesday for the
Atlantic island of Nantucket to spend the Thursday holiday there
with his family.
He celebrates his 81st birthday on Monday.
While in Norfolk, the Bidens kicked off an advance screening
with service members and their families of “Wonka,” a new
musical fantasy film focusing on a young Willy Wonka.
The Norfolk event was part of the White House’s Joining Forces
Initiative, co-hosted by the United Service Organizations (USO)
and Robert Irvine Foundation.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Franklin Paul and Diane
Craft)
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