[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 105 (Thursday, June 2, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X94-80602]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: June 2, 1994]



 


               D-Day National Remembrance Day and Time for the

               National Observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary

                            of World War II, 1994




               By the President of the United States of America



                                A Proclamation



      Fifty years ago on June 6, 1944, the largest armada of land, sea, 
      and air forces ever assembled embarked on a great crusade across 
      the English Channel to free the European continent of a tyranny 
      that had taken hold and threatened to strangle the very freedoms 
      we cherish most. Over 5,000 ships and 10,000 aircraft carried 
      more than 130,000 soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the United 
      States, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, France, Norway, the 
      Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Australia, Luxembourg, 
      and Belgium to the shores of Normandy. More than 9,000 Americans 
      never returned.
      D-Day was considered crucial not only by the Allies, but also by 
      the Axis powers. Field Marshall Irwin Rommel, commander of the 
      enemy forces in the area, dubbed the first 24 hours as ``The 
      Longest Day,'' referring to the fact that if the Allies were 
      successful in establishing a beachhead, many more units would 
      follow, overwhelming the enemy in the West. However, for the 
      Allied forces, June 6, 1944, was truly ``The Longest Day'' for a 
      different reason. For the men who landed on the beaches that 
      fateful day, each minute of combat was like an eternity as they 
      were continuously bombarded by the unyielding Nazi forces.
      But the enemy was unsuccessful, as the Allied forces had more 
      than just their will to win urging them on. As defenders of 
      justice, they were driven by the desire to restore the peace and 
      freedom that the Nazi occupation had denied to millions of 
      people. Anne Frank wrote of the impending invasion in her diary:

         ``It's no exaggeration to say that all Amsterdam, all 
         Holland, yes the whole west coast of Europe, right down 
         to Spain, talks about the invasion day and night, debates 
         about it, and makes bets on it and--hopes . . . . The 
         best part of the invasion is that I have the feeling that 
         friends are approaching. We have been oppressed by those 
         terrible Nazis for so long, they have their knives at our 
         throats, that the thought of friends and delivery fills 
         me with confidence.''

      For Anne Frank, that deliverance never came, for she died in a 
      concentration camp just months before the end of the war. But 
      millions of others were delivered from oppression and fear. Those 
      who landed on the beaches of Normandy, not only on D-Day but also 
      throughout the rest of the war, were responsible for the 
      liberation of many of the concentration camps as well as cities, 
      towns, and villages throughout Europe that had suffered for so 
      many years.
      Thus, 1944 was a year of triumphs and sorrows. The Allies made 
      great advances in bringing liberty to millions, while families 
      and friends on the home front, faced with the knowledge that many 
      of their loved ones would not return, continued to build the 
      ``Arsenal of Democracy.''
      It is to those millions of American men and women, veterans and 
      civilians, those who came home from the war and those who made 
      the ultimate sacrifice that we say ``a grateful Nation 
      remembers.'' We must never forget the high price paid by the 
      valiant to ensure the freedoms of the many.
      The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 303, has designated June 
      6, 1994, as ``D-Day National Remembrance Day.''
      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 
      June 6, 1994, as D-Day National Remembrance Day, and May 30, 
      1994, through June 6, 1994, as a Time for the National Observance 
      of the Fiftieth Anniversary of World War II. I call upon all 
      Americans to observe this period with appropriate programs and 
      activities.
      IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth 
      day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
      four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 
      two hundred and eighteenth.