Proclamation 6696

by Bill Clinton

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Each year as summer approaches, we pause to honor the memory of those who died in service to our Nation. Even though the Cold War is over, there are still reminders-past and present-that the price of peace can be very dear indeed. One reminder, engraved in the stone memorial at the Omaha Beach Cemetery, eloquently states, "To these we owe our highest resolve, that the cause for which they died, shall live." Whether at Valley Forge or in the skies above Iraq, this tribute poignantly expresses the gratitude felt by all Americans as we remember the men and women in uniform who made the supreme sacrifice.

Each year, on the last Monday in May, we pause to pray for peace and to pay homage to those who have died defending our liberties, service men and women from all generations and from all wars. But this year, Memorial Day especially recalls those Americans who helped change the course of history and helped preserve a world in which the ideals of freedom and individual rights could flourish. One week from today, on June 6, we will observe the 50th Anniversary of D-Day. On that day in 1944, the world witnessed perhaps the greatest military action in history-and the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany's stranglehold on Europe.

The passage of 50 years has seen the birth of new generations of Americans who know of D-Day only from their history lessons. Fifty years may have dimmed the memories of some who were alive during World War II, but we need only look at those "reminders" of the price of freedom to understand what happened on that day 50 years ago.

Anzio, Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc, and Normandy-each is an unforgettable chapter in our Nation's history. Each is a name that invokes memories of patriotism and valor, of teamwork and sacrifice.

Each reminds us that our Nation was founded on the belief that our democratic ideals are worth fighting for and, if necessary, worth dying for. We have a sacred obligation to remember for all time the names and the deeds of the Americans who paid that price for all of us.

In respect and recognition of those courageous men and women to whom we pay tribute today, the Congress, by joint resolution of May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on that day when the people of the United States might unite in prayer.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 30, 1994, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11 o'clock in the morning of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I urge the press, radio, television, and all other information media to cooperate in this observance.

I also request the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff during this Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States and in all areas under its jurisdiction and control, and I request the people of the United States to display the flag at half-staff from their homes for the customary forenoon period.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighteenth.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 2:39 p.m., May 31, 1994]