Matt Viser and Greg Jaffe (29 August 2019), "As he campaigns for president, Joe Biden tells a moving but false war story", Washington Post

This guy climbed down a ravine, carried this guy up on his back, under fire, and the general wanted me to pin the Silver Star on him. I got up there- this is the God's honest truth, my word as a Biden. He stood at attention. I went to pin it on him. He said, "Sir, I don't want the damn thing. Do not pin it on me, sir. Please, sir. Do not do that. He died! He died!"

— Joe Biden

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "This guy climbed down a ravine, carried this guy up on his back, under fire, and the general wanted me to pin the Silver Star on him. I got up there- this is the God's honest truth, my word as a Biden. He stood at attention. I went to pin it on him. He said, "Sir, I don't want the damn thing. Do not pin it on me, sir. Please, sir. Do not do that. He died! He died!"" in the context of "Matt Viser and Greg Jaffe (29 August 2019), "As he campaigns for president, Joe Biden tells a moving but false war story", Washington Post" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Joe Biden" (Quotes, 2010s, 2019) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 05, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Joe Biden

About Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, and represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009.