Proclamation 6818

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Throughout our proud history, America's sons and daughters have answered the call to defend our fundamental liberties and to safeguard the freedoms of peace-seeking countries around the globe. Representing the finest this Nation has to offer, the members of our Armed Forces have given everything of themselves in defense of the independence and democracy that we hold so dear. This year we have a special opportunity to honor their service as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the dedication of the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the unveiling of the POW and MIA postage stamp.

In remembering these heroic men and women, it is with profound respect and solemn appreciation that we single out those who paid the heaviest price. Among them are the Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action. Their courage and devotion to duty, honor, and country-often in the face of brutal treatment and torture by their captors-will never be forgotten by the American people.

Our Nation also recognizes that the families of these brave citizens have suffered and made great sacrifices for our country. For it is in the name of both the missing and their loved ones that we aggressively pursue the release of any United States service member held against his or her will, that we search tirelessly for information about the missing, and that we seek the repatriation of recoverable American remains.

On September 15, 1995, the flag of the National League of Families of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia, a black and white banner symbolizing America's missing, will be flown over the White House, the Capitol, the United States Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the Vietnam Veterans and Korean War Veterans Memorials, and national cemeteries across the country. This flag is a symbol of our Nation's covenant with those who defend us and with the loved ones they leave behind-the brave individuals who have earned our everlasting gratitude and their families who deserve our deepest sympathy and our national pledge to achieve the fullest possible accounting of American troops.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 15, 1995, as "National POW/MIA Recognition Day." I urge State and local officials, private organizations, and citizens everywhere to join in honoring all Prisoners of War and Missing in Action still unaccounted for as a result of their dedicated service to our great country. I also encourage the American people to recognize and acknowledge the steadfast vigil the families of the missing maintain in their quest for answers and a conclusion to their struggle. Finally, I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:48 p.m., August 29, 1995]