Biden is off on details of his uncle's WWII death as he calls Trump unfit to lead the military

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday misstated key details about his uncle’s death in World War II as he honored the man's wartime service and said Donald Trump was unworthy of serving as commander in chief.

While in Pittsburgh, Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt. Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr., aiming to draw a contrast with reports that Trump, while president, had called fallen service members “suckers" and "losers.”

Finnegan, the brother of Biden's mother, "got shot down in New Guinea,” Biden said. The president said Finnegan's body was never recovered and “there used to be a lot of cannibals” in the area. Biden, who also relayed a version of the story earlier in the day after stopping by the memorial in Scranton, was off on the particulars.

The U.S. government's record of missing service members does not attribute Finnegan's death to hostile action or indicate cannibals were any factor.

“We have a tradition in my family my grandfather started,” said Biden, a toddler at the time of his uncle’s death in 1944. "When you visit a gravesite of a family member — it’s going to sound strange to you — but you say three Hail Marys. And that’s what I was doing at the site."

Referring to Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Biden said, "That man doesn’t deserve to have been the commander in chief for my son, my uncle.”

Biden's elder son, Beau, died in 2015 of brain cancer, which the president has stated he believes was linked to his son's yearlong deployment in Iraq, where the military used burn pits to dispose of waste.

Some former Trump officials have claimed the then-president disparaged fallen service members as “suckers” and "losers” when, they said, he did not want to travel in 2018 to a cemetery for American war dead in France. Trump denied the allegation, saying, “What animal would say such a thing?”

According to the Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Biden's uncle, known by the family as “Bosie,” died on May 14, 1944, while a passenger on an Army Air Forces plane that, “for unknown reasons,” was forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean off the northern coast of New Guinea. “Both engines failed at low altitude, and the aircraft’s nose hit the water hard,” the agency states in its listing of Finnegan. “Three men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash.”

The agency said Finnegan was a passenger on the plane when it was lost. "He has not been associated with any remains recovered from the area after the war and is still unaccounted-for,” according to the agency.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates did not address the discrepancy between the agency’s records and Biden’s account when he issued a statement on the matter.

“President Biden is proud of his uncle’s service in uniform,“ Bates said, adding Finnegan ”lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea."

Biden "highlighted his uncle’s story as he made the case for honoring our ‘sacred commitment ... to equip those we send to war and take care of them and their families when they come home,’ and as he reiterated that the last thing American veterans are is ‘suckers’ or ‘losers.’”

The Democratic president also misstated when uncles enlisted in the military, saying they joined “when D-Day occurred, the next day,” in June 1944, when they actually joined weeks after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

After Finnegan's death, a local newspaper published a telegram from Gen. Douglas MacArthur expressing condolences to Finnegan's family:

"Dear Mr. Finnegan: In the death of your son, Second Lieutenant Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr., while in service of his country, you have my profound sympathy. Your consolation may be that he died in the uniform of our beloved country, serving in a crusade from which a better world for all will come. Very faithfully, Douglas MacArthur.”

Biden, in his 2008 book “Promises to Keep,” made only brief mention of his uncle, describing him as flyer who was killed in New Guinea.

President Joe Biden visits the War Memorial in Scranton, Pa., Wednesday, April 17, 2024, and touches the wall near his uncle's name, Ambrose J Finnegan Jr., who died in WWII. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden visits the War Memorial in Scranton, Pa., Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Biden's uncle, Ambrose J Finnegan Jr., who died in WWII, is listed on the wall. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden visits the War Memorial in Scranton, Pa., with Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, right, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Biden's uncle, Ambrose J Finnegan Jr., who died in WWII, is listed on the memorial wall. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden pauses at a wall of veterans' names at a Scranton war memorial, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden reaches to touch the name of his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan, Jr., on a wall at a Scranton war memorial, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. His uncle died in WWII. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden, and Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, pause at a Scranton war memorial, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden reaches to touch the name of his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan, Jr., on a wall at a Scranton war memorial, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. His uncle died in WWII. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas Rangers starter Jon Gray just kept getting the sign from catcher Jonah Heim and filling the strike zone with heaters, sliders and a few changeups against the Washington Nationals.

Gray retired 22 of the last 23 batters he faced while allowing only three singles over eight innings, and the Rangers won 7-1 on Tuesday night to end the Nationals' four-game winning streak.

“Just trusting his stuff and he's going right at these guys,” Heim said.

“He was on top of his game,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Just was solid work throughout the game.”

Josh Smith and Leody Taveras homered for the defending World Series champion Rangers (16-14), who have won back-to-back games for only the second time since April 6.

Coming off a four-game sweep at Miami when they scored 33 runs, the Nationals (14-15) missed a chance to get over .500 for the first time since July 1, 2021.

Gray struck out three without a walk after not getting past six innings in any of his previous five starts. The right-hander threw 72 of his 98 pitches for strikes before rookie Cole Winn pitched a perfect ninth.

“It was just, being more comfortable being over the middle of the plate,” Gray said. “First four or five games, we've kind of been off the plate, on the plate, on the plate, off the plate. Just getting behind guys, not really getting deep into games. ... I just hit a point where I was kind of sick of it. I would rather give up a home run than walk a dude.”

Washington starter MacKenzie Gore (2-3) struck out seven, walked one and allowed two runs and five hits over five innings.

CJ Abrams led off the game with an infield single to extend his on-base streak to 16 games. After he scored on a two-out single by Luis García Jr., Gray retired 12 in a row until a two-out in the fifth, then set down his last 10 batters.

“He got a lot of called strikes down, the slider was really, really good," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "Everything was down. We couldn’t do anything with it.”

The Rangers got even at 1 in the fourth after Nathaniel Lowe had an infield single with a slow high chopper over the mound on the 10th pitch he saw. He scored on a single by Heim.

They went ahead in the fifth when Marcus Semien tripled and scored on slugger Corey Seager's swinging dribbler just in front of the plate.

OTHER RUNS

Smith's second homer of the season came in the sixth. Lowe had an RBI single after Semien's double in the seventh, and Taveras hit a two-run homer to straightaway center in the eighth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Nationals: Martinez said RHP Josiah Gray (right elbow/forearm flexor strain) is progressing. He says the pitcher has increased his throwing distance to 120 feet, is working on some mechanics on the mound and doing forearm strengthening.

Rangers: RF Adolis García stayed in the game after being hit on his right hand by a 96.7 mph fastball from Gore when checking his swing in the fifth. The slugger grabbed at his hand and was in the opposite on-deck circle squatting in obvious pain when an athletic trainer and Bochy got to him. García said afterward that he was OK. ... RHP Max Scherzer (offseason back surgery) had his second scheduled rehab start scratched because of thumb soreness.

UP NEXT

Trevor Williams (2-0, 2.70 ERA) pitches for Washington in the middle game of the series Wednesday night. The Rangers go with left-hander Andrew Heaney (0-3, 6.26).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe follows through on an RBI single in the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Marcus Semien scored on the hit. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Adolis Garcia, left, lets the bat loose after being hit by a pitch as Washington Nationals' Keibert Ruiz, center, and umpire Ryan Blakney look on in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Leody Taveras (3) and Evan Carter, front right, celebrate with teammates after the team's win in a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals' Luis Garcia Jr. (2) celebrates his RBI single behind Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and umpire Edwin Jimenez, right, in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. CJ Abrams scored on the hit. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jon Gray throws to the Washington Nationals in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore throws to the Texas Rangers in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams reaches down to field a single hit by Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe in the fourth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams connects for a single as Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim looks on in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams sprints home to score on a single by Washington Nationals' Luis Garcia Jr. in the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams (5) reaches first base on a single as Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jon Gray, right front, watches first baseman Nathaniel Lowe defend the bag in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Umpire Edwin Jimenez, left, looks on at the play. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore, left, reaches down to field a grounder by Texas Rangers' Davis Wendzel as he runs to first base in the fourth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Wendzel was out at first on the play. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Jonah Heim follows through on an RBI single in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Nathaniel Lowe scored on the hit. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jon Gray throws to the Washington Nationals in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)