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STAT.]

PROCLAMATION 3727-MAY 26, 1966

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Proclamation 3727 PRAYER FOR PEACE, MEMORIAL DAY, 1966 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Americans will be fighting and dying in Vietnam this Memorial Day, 1966, in fulfillment of our commitment to freedom. Their sacrifice is part of an ancient legacy that begins with man's first act of transcendent courage, and that contains all that is noble and selfless in human character. Our own liberty was won in struggle against tyranny. In two world wars and in Korea, brave Americans and their allies gave their lives that men might live and prosper in freedom. We shall not forsake their sacrifice. We shall—^because we must— persevere. We are totally committed to defeat this aggression. This Nation has never left the field of battle in abject surrender of a cause for which it has fought. We shall not do so now. We shall see this through. Yet as we protect freedom by courage in arms, we shall every day continue the search for an honorable peace. I t is tragic that young lives must be sacrificed, that great sums must be spent for the instruments of war, when the work of peace awaits man's accomplishment in every land. America today—as in past years—is prepared to join in that work with any nation whose devotion is to peace with its neighbors, and a better life for its people. Let the guns of aggression be silent, we say, that the sounds of the builders, of the planters, of the teachers, may be heard. On this Memorial Day, as we honor the memory of brave men who have borne our colors in war, we pray to God for His mercy. We pray for the wisdom to find a way to end this struggle of nation against nation, of brother against brother. We pray that soon we may begin to build the only true memorial to man's valor in war—a sane and hopeful environment for the generations to come. The Congress, in a joint resolution approved 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 during each such day when the people of the United States might unite in such application: NOW, THEREFORE, I, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 1966, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at eleven o'clock in the morning of that day as a time to unite in such prayer. I urge the press, radio, television, and all other information media to cooperate in this observance. I also urge all of the people of this Nation to join me in prayer to the Almighty for the safety of our Nation's sons and daughters in Vietnam, for His blessing on those who have sacrificed their lives

May 26, 1966

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