Mayor de Blasio leads Memorial Day ceremony at the Intrepid

NEW YORK (WABC) -- America is marking Memorial Day with ceremonies honoring veterans and those who have died for their country.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the U.S. Marine Corps commander for the Southern Command, John Kelly, led Monday's wreath ceremony at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, attended by hundreds of members of the military and veterans.

Four wreaths were placed in the Hudson River next to the Intrepid, and a 100-foot American flag was unfurled.

The Navy also conducted a flyover above the area as a tribute to U.S. veterans and active duty troops.

Kelly spoke of the loss of his son Robert in 2010 while serving in Afgahnistan.

"It was important in his mind and his heart, he had decided somewhere between the day he was born, and at 07:19 on 9 November 2010, that it was worth it for him to risk everything, even his life, in service to his country," said Kelly. "Was it worth his life? It's not for me to say. He answered, thank God, that question for me."

Afterward the mayor planned to travel to the Memorial Day Parade in Little Neck and Douglaston in Queens.

President Barack Obama hosted a breakfast with organizations that support military family and families of the fallen.

Obama then paid tribute to the nation's fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and saying Americans "can never fully repay the debt" to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Speaking to military officers, families of the fallen and a crowd of roughly 5,000 gathered under sunny skies, he noted this is the first Memorial Day in 14 years that has been observed without U.S. forces engaged in a major ground war.

The president says most Americans still don't fully understand the sacrifice of the 1 percent serving in the nation's all-volunteer military. He describes Arlington Cemetery as more than a resting place for heroes, but also a reflection of America itself, including its history and diversity.

In the Afghan capital of Kabul, General John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, placed a wreath at a monument, remembering American military personnel killed in action over the last 14 years. Campbell said, "We also remember the more than 1,100 coalition fallen who have also lost their lives fighting for a common cause to build a more stable, secure Afghanistan, as we also protect our homelands."

In Chicago, a special tribute will be paid today to Marine Cpl. Sara Medina, a combat photographer who was killed during the earthquake relief mission in Nepal.

(Some information from the Associated Press.)