President Joe Biden got deeply personal during his surprise interview with Howard Stern Friday by sharing son Beau Biden’s emotional last words before cancer claimed his life in 2015.
On the latest episode of Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show, the host was blown away when Biden explained that Beau left his position as Delaware’s 44th Attorney General to join the state’s National Guard in 2003.
Beau deployed to Iraq for a year where he was exposed to burn pits, which led him to develop brain cancer. President Biden said he was with his son when Beau said his final words and passed away peacefully at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C.
STERN: You know the song by Credence Clearwater Revival, “I’m Not a Fortunate son.” Your son — here’s the son of a Senator — joins the military and was in Iraq.
BIDEN: Well, look, uh — Beau should — my son, Beau, should be sitting here instead of me. He’s more capable than I am. And, uh, he was the attorney general of the state of Delaware. And one day I came home, and he came over to the house. He was living in Delaware, and he said, “Dad, what are you doing on Friday?”
I said, “What do you need?”
He said, “I need you to pin my bars on me.”
I said, “Pin your bars on you? What the hell are you talking about?”
He said, “I joined the National Guard.” And facetiously said, “Somebody’s got to do this.” Anyway —
STERN: Were you in shock that he joined the National Guard?
BIDEN: No, No, I wasn’t in shock. It didn’t surprise me, I just — he had to give up the attorney general’s job. Because, you either have to work for the president, or for the state.
STERN: So, he was attorney general at that point —
BIDEN: Attorney general, turned it back over to a Republican who had been there before.
STERN: Wow.
BIDEN: And went for a year. The problem was, he lived next to one of those burn pits. He came back with a Bronze Star, he came back with a service medal, but he also came back with Stage 4 glioblastoma. The brain injuries out of Iraq are extreme, like they were the people of 9/11, all of those firefighters because of the toxic fumes.
STERN: You’re convinced that the reason he got brain cancer is —
BIDEN: Oh, I know it. It’s been determined, yeah. A lot of them did. A lot.
STERN: Did he call you and say, “Dad, I’ve got a horrible diagnosis”?
BIDEN: No, he had to come home, and it just kept getting worse, and that’s when he realized. They did the analysis, then he was in Walter Reed for a long time. I wrote a book called Promise me, dad. He knew his time was up. And, he one night was having dinner at our home before he was incapacitated and hospitalized. And he said, “Dad, could we talk?”
And I said, “Sure.”
He said, “Look at me, dad. Promise me, dad. Promise me, dad that you’ll not leave public life. I know when I go, you’ll want to quit. You’ll want to quit.”
And he looked at me and said, “Give me your word as a Biden. Give me your word.”
STERN Wow.
BIDEN: I gave him my word on the health of my family. And he said, “Promise me dad, you won’t step back.” And I made the promise.
Before he passed away — I shouldn’t — Last thing he said before he passed away — I mean we were in the hospital, Hunt and I with him, lying in the hospital bed. He looked and he said, “I’m not scared, dad, It’s Ok. I’m not scared, it’s Ok.” And he was gone in — well —
STERN: Wow.