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PROCLAMATION 3785-MAY 22, 1967

[81 STAT.

I N W I T N E S S WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America t,o be affixed. D O N E at the City of Washington this tenth day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-first.

By the President:

Secretary

of /State.

Proclamation 3785 PRAYER FOR PEACE, MEMORIAL DAY, 1967 May 22, 1967

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

I n reverent tribute on this Memorial Day 1967 we salute the gallant men of our country who have served us and still serve us so nobly and selflessly in defense of freedom. We can never repay their sacrifices. Our honored dead sleep in hallowed ground on five continents. The debt we owe them, and that our children will owe for generations to come, is beyond measure. Today, our young men are fighting and dying in Vietnam so that other young men may stand as they have stood—proudly independent, free to determine their own destiny. Before their common sacrifice and dedication the barriers of race, color, or creed crumble. The heroism of a just cause makes all men brothers against tyranny. Every President in time of armed conflict must act in the deep conviction that the cause for which our young men suffer and die transcends their sacrifices. A century ago President Lincoln expressed his grief over the terrible losses of the war between the States. He pointed out that all deprecated war, all sought to avoid it, but as there were those who would make war, so there must be those who could accept war. We have had to accept the war in Vietnam to redeem our pledge to those who have accepted in good faith our commitment to protect their right of free choice. Only in this way can we preserve our own right to act in freedom. So we shall continue to resist the aggressor in Vietnam, as we must. But we continue to hold open the door to an honorable peace, as we must.

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