When we returned to North Macedonia this Spring, we spent a weekend exploring Kosovo and Albania. We made a point of seeing the
Beau Biden National Highway during our travels.
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| There is also a memorial at the site. |
Click here to see Delaware Online article about the ceremony of the naming of the Beau Biden road:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2016/08/17/road-kosovo-named-after-beau-biden/88895644/
Highway in Kosovo named after Beau Biden
The Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III roadway was dedicated at an emotional ceremony attended by Biden family members
The late
Beau Biden's name
now lives on not far from the American military base in central Kosovo
where he served in 2001, and where his family returned Wednesday to
attend a dedication of a national road in his honor.
"Beau
loved this country like I do," said Vice President Joe Biden, pointing
to grassy hills nearby as American and Kosovo flags fluttered in the
background, in an emotional ceremony at Camp Bondsteel. "On behalf of
the Biden family, we are extremely grateful and humbled beyond words."
Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 following a years-long fight. He was 46.
The
Kosovo government renamed a 21-mile roadway in the southeastern part of
the Balkan nation as the Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III National Road.
The
former Delaware attorney general was a legal adviser in Kosovo as the
region recovered from war, helping train prosecutors and judges for the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He also
served in the Army National Guard.
"It was his strong belief from having been here at the
depth of a very difficult time (for Kosovo) that made me confident that
calling for the independence of this great country was the right thing
to do," the vice president said Wednesday.
During
his time with the OSCE, Beau Biden was responsible for developing
training curriculum for the emerging justice system, setting up formal
training programs and training, said Senad Sabovic, head of the
OSCE's political affairs and communications office.
"Our
colleagues in the mission remember Beau Biden as a true professional
and an excellent friend. He was strongly committed to his job and to
getting the justice system in Kosovo back on its feet," Sabovic
said. "As such, his work was crucial for the rebuilding of the Kosovo
justice system, which is a cornerstone of developing rule of law and
through that a lasting peace in any post-conflict society."
Kosovo
has a long history of naming roads after American officials, a tribute
to the U.S. involvement in the nation's 2008 independence from
Serbia. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have roadways
named after them.
Joe Biden as a U.S. senator from
Delaware was a strong advocate of American involvement in the war-torn
Balkans and played an important role in ending the Yugoslav wars in the
1990s, and the trip this week marks his final to the region has vice
president.
The ceremony Wednesday was attended by
Beau Biden's wife, Hallie, and children Natalie and Hunter, as well as
step-mother Jill Biden, brother Hunter Biden, and aunt Valerie Biden
Owen.
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