[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 22 (Monday, June 6, 1994)]
[Pages 1186-1187]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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Proclamation 6696--Prayer For Peace, Memorial Day, 1994

May 30, 1994

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,

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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]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on June 2.