The State of Delaware will honor the late Beau Biden by naming Delaware’s Armed Forces Reserve Center in New Castle after him. A ceremony unveiling new signage for the “Major Joseph R. (Beau) Biden III Armed Forces Reserved Center” will take place in the spring.
Biden served as Attorney General and also served in the National Guard.
“Beau lived every day with a remarkable determination to making Delaware’s communities and our world a better place, from defending the country abroad to protecting children and our most vulnerable citizens as Attorney General to his dedication to family as a model husband and father,” said Gov. Jack Markell. “It is only fitting that his name will forever be associated with an organization of men and women who go to extraordinary lengths to serve their state and country.”
Biden, who died of brain cancer in May, enlisted in the Guard in 2003, rising to the rank of Major. In 2008, he was deployed to Iraq for a year as a member of the 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade. He earned the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star for his service.
Following serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and private practice, Biden won election as Attorney General in 2006 and served two, four-year terms.
“Nothing made Beau more proud than putting on his uniform and reporting for duty,” said Hallie Biden, Beau’s widow. “He adored his brothers and sisters in the Delaware National Guard and what they represented in our state. The men and women who walk through the doors of this building are the finest we have – we’re honored that he will forever be associated with them.”
The Armed Forces Reserve Center was dedicated in August 2014, following two years of construction on the 106,000 square foot facility that now houses the Army and Air National Guard as well as the local U.S. Navy Reserve.
The building, which was conceived to foster operational efficiency by locating similar functions together and providing servicemen and women with the most advanced technology, received gold level status in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, which recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. Features include LED lights, room occupation light sensors, dual ballast florescent lights in the hall ways that dim and illuminate based on human presence, geothermal heating and air conditioning, roof mounted solar panels, and underground water storage tanks that help eliminate storm run-off from the property.
During the week, about 175 Soldiers, Airmen, and Sailors occupy the building, with that number rising to more than 320 people on training assembly weekends.
