[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 5, 1994)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 34343-34344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-16327]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: July 5, 1994]


  


                        Presidential Documents 


Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 127
Tuesday, July 5, 1994

____________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President
                Proclamation 6705 of June 30, 1994

 

50th Anniversary of the Liberation of Guam

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Fifty years ago, on July 21, 1944, after two and a half 
                years of occupation, 55,000 United States Marines and 
                soldiers stormed the small Pacific Island of Guam in an 
                effort to bring about the liberation of a people 
                oppressed by tyranny.

                The conquest of Guam by Imperial Japanese forces had 
                begun shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor when 
                Saipan-based Japanese bombers launched the first in a 
                series of raids on the island. The small defending 
                force consisted of a handful of military and civilian 
                construction workers, as well as the local Guam Insular 
                Guard and the Guam Militia. Hopes of defending the 
                island ended in the early morning hours of December 10, 
                1941, when the island's governor surrendered his post 
                and the island, thus making Guam the only American 
                community to be occupied during World War II.

                The Chamorros, the indigenous people of Guam, endured 
                great hardships during the occupation as their captors 
                forced them to work long hours in the fields, repair or 
                build airfields and defense installations, and dig 
                hundreds of Japanese shelter caves. But liberation was 
                close at hand. Guam offered an ideal strategic position 
                for the Allied forces, as it would provide a 
                centralized location between the Japanese homeland and 
                the Philippine Islands to launch long-range bomber 
                attacks. By taking the Marianas Islands back, we would 
                also be able to sever vital enemy supply lines, thus 
                cutting off thousands of enemy soldiers and ending 
                their effectiveness in the war.

                The battle for Guam was fierce. Enemy forces continued 
                to launch counterattacks despite their lack of supplies 
                or hope of winning. But the Americans were just as 
                determined and went to great lengths to complete their 
                mission.

                Chief of Staff General Dwight D. Eisenhower stated it 
                best when he said:

                ``In a nation at war, teamwork by the whole people is 
                necessary for victory. But the issue is decided on the 
                battlefield, toward which all national effort leads. 
                The country's fate lies in the hands of its soldier 
                citizens; in the clash of battle is found the final 
                test of plans, training, equipment, and--above all--the 
                fighting spirit of units and individuals.''

                And it was the spirit of the Americans fighting on Guam 
                that brought a quick end to organized resistance on the 
                island as it was secured by the American forces on 
                August 10, 1944.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim July 21, 1994, as the ``50th 
                Anniversary of the Liberation of Guam.'' I call upon 
                all Americans to observe this day with appropriate 
                programs and activities.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                thirtieth day of June, 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.

                    (Presidential Sig.)>

[FR Doc. 94-16327
Filed 6-30-94; 2:20 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P