Proclamation 6610

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Each October 11, on the anniversary of his death in battle, America honors General Casimir Pulaski, a hero of two nations.

A patriot to the core, Pulaski loved his native Poland dearly. In unequal battle against far stronger enemies, he fought for his country's freedom.

But Pulaski's love of liberty transcended national boundaries, and when the American War of Independence began, he took the colonists' struggle as his own. He came to the United States, put his battlefield experience at the service of the Continental Amy, and commanded a cavalry unit. On this day in 1779, during the siege of Savannah, General Pulaski gave his life for the cause of American freedom.

Pulaski's spirit and example have inspired Americans for more than two centuries. Across this country, you will find counties, towns, schools, parks and highways named after that patriot; in my own home state of Arkansas, Pulaski County is the seat of the capital, Little Rock.

But eager as we are to claim General Pulaski as our own, we are also proud to share him with Poland. What Pulaski fought for in the latter part of the 18th century, his compatriots have achieved at the end of the 20th: a free Poland, welcome and respected in the community of independent nations. And the courage General Pulaski displayed in battle is matched by that of his present-day countrymen, who have carried out Poland's history-making revolution without bloodshed.

NOW, THEREFORE I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Monday, October 11, 1993, as General Pulaski Memorial Day, and I encourage the people of the United States to commemorate this occasion appropriately throughout the land.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and-eighteenth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON