"In an age of selfishness, they embody responsibility," Obama said at a memorial service attended by several thousand soldiers and civilians. "In an era of division, they call upon us to come together. In a time of cynicism, they remind us of who we are as Americans."

Obama said a "twisted logic" had driven the gunman to open fire inside a Fort Hood medical facility. "No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts. No just and loving God looks upon them with favor.

"For what he has done," Obama said, "we know that the killer will be met with justice - in this world, and the next."

The accused gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was shot four times by civilian police. He is hospitalized in custody and is in stable condition. Fifteen of the 29 injured in the shooting are also still hospitalized.

In front of the dais as Obama spoke were 13 pairs of combat boots, and in front of each pair was a photo of one of the victims. Relatives of the dead walked down the stone stairs, many red-eyed, some gripping one another's arms. Many wore ribbons.

"Your loved ones endure through the life of our nation," the president told the families.

Obama mentioned each of the dead in turn, saying a word about service and the families left behind.

Pfc. Michael Pearson "could create songs on the spot." Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow was "an optimist, a mentor, and a loving husband and father."

"Their lives speak to the strength, the dignity, the decency of those who serve," Obama said, "and that's how they will be remembered."

After the service, Obama and his wife, Michelle, walked along the line of photos of the 12 soldiers and one civilian who died, pausing at each, and the president placed a commander in chief's coin on each display. Senior officers and family members followed, with uniformed soldiers giving a final salute before each memorial display.

The president and first lady then went to visit San Antonio's Darnall Army Medical Center to meet with soldiers wounded in Thursday's attack.

For Obama, the trip to Texas and his speech offered a chance to convey a measure of gratitude for the military's sacrifice at a time when the country is fighting two unpopular wars on foreign soil.

In the audience at the nation's largest military post were Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, and the state's two Republican senators. Also present were some of the nation's senior military brass, including Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the post commander, who also spoke, said the chief trait the victims had in common was their decision to volunteer to serve their country. He said it was easier to accept casualties on foreign soil, where Fort Hood has lost 545 soldiers in the Iraq and Afghan wars, "but we never expected to pay such a high price at home."

"It was a kick in the gut," Army Chief of Staff George W. Casey Jr. said. He said the responses to the shooting had been "uplifting."

Hours before the memorial service, hundreds of ordinary guests drove slowly through the Fort Hood gates. They said they had come to mourn the dead, embrace the living, and find a measure of peace for themselves.

Samuel Fleming Jr., who lives in nearby Killeen, said he had come "to reflect, to mourn with them a little bit today.

"You're losing people who had their whole lives ahead of them. They were randomly gunned down," Fleming, 45, said as he waited in the parking lot of a post bowling alley called Ghost Warrior Lanes. "That hurts. They were the best of the best."

Cheryl Rush, 34 and an Iraq war veteran, arrived four hours before the scheduled start. She was still asking herself why Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, allegedly opened fire, and why here.

"Maybe it is stressful to be a Muslim in this society, but why kill so many people?" Rush asked. "It was totally unnecessary, and it breaks my heart.

"We go to Iraq, we're safe and sound, we're all in one piece, and we have to deal with something like this at our post," she said. "It was totally unexpected."

Rush and her friend Andrea Nunez, 38, whose husband is a supervisor on Fort Hood's civilian police force, said they felt a sense of solidarity throughout the heavily military community on the post and nearby.

Both said no one could have stopped the rampage before it began.

Fleming agreed. "He snapped. . . . Nobody would think he would take it out on innocent people," he said. "They were innocent and he treated them like murderers."

During the service, Obama said the life's work of the fallen "is our security, and the freedom that we too often take for granted."

"Neither this country," he said, "nor the values that we were founded upon, could exist without men and women like these 13 Americans. And that is why we must pay tribute to their stories."

"So we say goodbye to those who now belong to eternity," Obama said. "We press ahead in pursuit of the peace that guided their service.

"May God bless the memory of those we lost."

Read the president's

Fort Hood remarks via http://go.philly.com/forthood