President Barack Obama tonight paid tribute to the 13 victims of last week's shooting attack at Fort Hood, Texas, saying these are "trying times for our country" and "no faith justifies" the killings.
"This is a time of war," Mr Obama said in his prepared remarks at a ceremony at the base in Texas, the largest military base in the US.
"And yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great American community."
Earlier, Mr Obama and first lady Michelle Obama met with family members of fallen soldiers and with some of those wounded in the attack.
The Defence Department and FBI are investigating the November 5th massacre and the suspected shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist.
The investigative officials said Mr Hasan is expected to be charged in military proceedings. He is at Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio and was still in critical but stable condition early today, according to hospital spokeswoman Maria Gallegos.
Mr Obama, in his speech, read the names of each of the 13 slain soldiers and vowed that their killer "will be met with justice in this world and in the next."
An M4 rifle, barrel pointed down and gunstock topped with an Army helmet, was placed in each of 13 pairs of combat boots. Pictures of each of those killed were placed in front of the boots.
Of 43 persons wounded in the mass shooting, 15 are still hospitalised, Nancy Ellen, a spokeswoman at Fort Hood, said today.
Bloomberg