Proclamation 4323

October 7, 1974

On this Veterans Day, we pay tribute to those men and women whose service in our Armed Forces has contributed so profoundly to mankind's age-old quest for peace.

From Valley Forge to Vietnam, on battlefields around the globe, in World War I, World War II, and the Korean conflict, Americans have selflessly answered the call to arms whenever our freedoms and the freedoms of others have been threatened by tyranny and aggression.

Our Veterans have earned our deep and lasting gratitude for their valor, their patriotism, and their willingness to sacrifice so that others might remain free.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby call on all Americans to join in observing Monday, October 28, 1974, as Veterans Day. I urge both public ceremony and private contemplation in recognition of the precious gifts of freedom and security that are ours because those we honor have stood in our defense.

Let us give special consideration on that day to those who have died in our Nation's wars and those who have been disabled. Let this be a day of remembrance for those veterans who are in our hospitals, a day on which our appreciation is expressed tangibly by our visits and our attention.

Further, let this be a day on which all Americans take special cognizance of the needs of those young veterans who are currently readjusting to civilian life. Let us give them personal help and encouragement.

I direct the appropriate officials of Government to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on this day. I request officials of Federal, State and local governments to support its observance and I urge schools, churches, unions, civic and patriotic organizations to participate in appropriate public ceremonies throughout the Nation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-ninth.



GERALD R. FORD