US President-elect Joe Biden got emotional as he bid goodbye to his home state of Delaware before departing for Washington on the eve of his inauguration ceremony.
Calling himself a 'son of Delaware', Biden thanked Delaware and its residents for serving as the launchpad for his decades-long career in public service that is now capped with his ascension to the nation's highest office.
"Look, this is kind of emotional," Biden said at the Delaware National Guard headquarters in New Castle County before departing to Washington, DC, where he will be sworn in as president on Wednesday.
"Through the good times and the bad, I want to thank you for everything, to my fellow Delawareans on behalf of the entire Biden family that's here today, we want to express how much you mean to me and to every one of us," CNN quoted Biden as saying.
Stating that this afternoon he was "proud" to be delivering his send-off remarks from the National Guard center in New Castle, he said, "I am proud, proud, proud to be a son of Delaware. And I am even more proud to be standing here doing this from the Major Beau Biden facility."
Noting the site of his send-off, the center named for his late son, Biden said he has just "one regret," that Beau Biden, who died in 2015, could not be there.
"I only have one regret: that he is not here, because we should be introducing him as president," he continued.
The President-elect is expected to arrive at Joint Base Andrews at around 3:30 pm ET (2 am IST) on Tuesday.
He will then participate in a memorial honoring the nearly 400,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19, with 400 lights illuminating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Hundreds of towns, cities and communities across the country plan to join in the solemn tribute with lighting ceremonies of their own at buildings from the Empire State Building in New York to the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington.
Biden will be joined by his wife Jill Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, will deliver the invocation and gospel singer Yolanda Adams will perform "Hallelujah."
On Wednesday, Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in at the West Front of the US capitol during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony.
( With inputs from ANI )
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