Obama pays tribute to Ft. Hood victims and veterans

Calling last week's mass murder at Fort Hood Army Base "painful" and "incomprehensible," President Obama spoke at the memorial service on Tuesday for 13 people killed in the incident.

The president and First Lady Michelle Obama traveled to Killeen, Texas, where they met with families of the fallen and with wounded soldiers of the attack while at III Corps Headquarters at Fort Hood.

"We come together filled with sorrow for the thirteen Americans that we have lost; with gratitude for the lives that they led; and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on," the president said during his remarks at the memorial service.

Speaking to the entire Fort Hood community in a poetic tribute, Obama noted the tragic irony that the soldiers would be killed in their own backyard. "This is a time of war. And yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great American community. It is this fact that makes the tragedy even more painful and even more incomprehensible," he said.

The remarks were delivered one day before the president was to observe Veterans Day, a national holiday each year on November 11. The victims of the shooting were killed in an attack on November 5th at Fort Hood.

"For those families who have lost a loved one, no words can fill the void that has been left," the president said. "We knew these men and women as soldiers and caregivers. You knew them as mothers and fathers; sons and daughters; sisters and brothers."

The president's speech and the memorial service were carried live on the cable news networks and on NBC. Obama read brief stories about each falled soldier as photos of the dead were shown on screen.

The president made no mention of Major Nidal Hasan, the alleged gunman behind the attack, but his speech did invoke the word "God" five times.

"It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy," the president said. "But this much we do know -- no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. For what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice -- in this world, and the next."

Obama also walked a fine line in trying to steer clear of suggestions that he was claiming God for the U.S. cause. "We're a nation that guarantees the freedom to worship as one chooses. And instead of claiming God for our side, we remember Lincoln's words, and always pray to be on the side of God," he said.

But the speech was mostly a tribute to the soldiers who had been killed or wounded. "Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - that is their legacy," the president said.

The president and first lady were scheduled to host a Veterans Day breakfast in the East Room of the White House Wednesday morning, followed by an 11 a.m. wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and an 11:25 a.m. speech.

Veterans Day is observed on November 11 to mark the end of fighting in World War I.  Although the war officially ended in June 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the actual fighting between the Allies and Germany had ceased with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.