this monday, i m terrell brown in for betty nguyen. this is memorial day. the day we remember the service men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. later this morning at arlington national cemetery, president obama will pay tribute to america s war dead. flags have been placed in front of more than 260,000 gravestones. he ll also place a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns. also this morning, the president is expected to announce he s chosen army general martin dempsey as the new chairman of the joint chiefs. if confirmed by the senate he would be replacing retiring admiral mike mullen. u.s. troops in afghanistan paused yesterday to remember their fallen comrades, in nearly ten years of fighting more than 1400 americans have been killed there. this memorial day comes before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attack. that day triggered the u.s. involvement in afghanistan, the hunt for osama bin laden, and changed the taliban government. president obama pl
national cemetery, president obama will pay tribute to america s war dead. flags have been placed in front of more than 260,000 gravestones. he ll also place a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns. also this morning, the president is expected to announce he s chosen army general martin dempsey as the new chairman of the joint chiefs. if confirmed by the senate he would be replacing retiring admiral mike mullen. u.s. troops in afghanistan paused yesterday to remember their fallen comrades, in nearly ten years of fighting more than 1400 americans have been killed there. this memorial day comes before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attack. that day triggered the u.s. involvement in afghanistan, the hunt for osama bin laden, and changed the taliban government. president obama plans to start drawing down u.s. forces in the region beginning in july. [ playing taps ] memorial day was originally known as decoration day. it began as a remembrance of those soldiers who fell during
the healing conference pro process. reporter: president obama walked through the devastation of last week s tornado, then he attended a memorial service for the people killed. president obama: the spotlight might shift but we ll be with you every single day until this community is back on its feet. we re not going everywhere. reporter: the recovery is going to day years but he says it will be restored. that storm, the likes of which has never been seen has brought for ard a resilience the likes of which we have never seen. reporter: earlier sunday parishioners gathered for mass at the st. peter s apostolic church. i don t know how you get through without faith. reporter: father justin monaghan survived inside his bath tub. i think we re all saying, eh, we re strong, we can put this together, we ll rebuild, and we ll be stronger than ever. reporter: parishioners say they ll rebuild the church where this metal cross is still standing. ins pe ray, cbs news. t
offering food, sweat, and comfort. brown tells me he s learned something and wants to tell the people of joplin, don t turn down help and don t give up. if you can t go anywhere, you always go home. wouldn t it have been easier for you to pack it in, say i m not going back and startover somewhere. would have been a whole lot easier, but i won t let this get me down. reporter: a full month after a deadly tornado and so many still so slow to turn the corner from surviving to recovery. david mattingly, cnn, tuscaloosa, alabama. you re in the cnn newsroom for this special report. this special joplin memorial service this sunday, may 29. it s going to begin any minute. live pictures of all those who have a ticket and a seat in place. president barack obama is also there. he s seen for himself the destruction that left behind the destruction of last world series eek tornado and he also met face to face with many of the survivors. our dan lothian is traveling with the pres
they will recover. now, we are also hearing the stories about survival, and you mentioned how the priest here is a pastor and his name is father justin monaghan who has been here for 15 years helping the community, and this time they had to help him out. when the tornado approached he did what he has always heard to do for safety and that is to get himself to the bathroom. i decided to wait until the end of the noise, and then i opened that door, and everything was black. it was all covered. and father monaghan says he had to stay in the bathtub for 50 minutes or so with rain pouring down on top of him. he said when the parishioners got there to rescue him, they could not find him because he was covered in the rubble. he had to take a piece of wood and stick it up in the air so they could find him, and they spent time clearing it off to