[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 51365-51366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-26121]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 189 / Tuesday, September 30, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 51365]]


                Proclamation 7028 of September 25, 1997

                
Gold Star Mother's Day, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                As a free people, Americans have always sought to live 
                our lives in peace; but history's harsh lessons have 
                taught us that to remain free, we must be prepared for 
                war. At many times and in many ways throughout the 
                year, we remember the millions of selfless Americans 
                whose wartime service helped preserve our freedom and 
                the values we hold dear; and it is fitting that we 
                should do so. But we must also remember that not all of 
                the sacrifices that sustained us were made on the 
                battlefield.

                Long after the devastation of war ceases, the 
                destruction left in its wake continues to afflict those 
                who survive. For America's Gold Star Mothers--who have 
                lost a child in the service of our country--the grief 
                is particularly acute. The sons and daughters they 
                cherished through the years, whom they guided and 
                comforted through all the joys and heartaches of 
                childhood and adolescence, were torn from their lives 
                forever with cruel and sudden force. These mothers must 
                live the rest of their lives knowing that the talents 
                and ambitions of their children will never be 
                fulfilled, that each family gathering or celebration 
                will be shadowed by the absence of a dearly loved son 
                or daughter.

                Yet despite the enormity of their loss, America's Gold 
                Star Mothers have continued to do what comes naturally 
                to mothers: to comfort, to nurture, to give of 
                themselves for the benefit of others. Through their 
                devotion to our disabled veterans and their families, 
                their generous community service, and their dedication 
                to preserving the memory of the fallen, Gold Star 
                Mothers remind us in so many poignant ways that true 
                love of country often calls for both service and 
                sacrifice.

                For these reasons and more, and in recognition of the 
                special burden that Gold Star Mothers bear on behalf of 
                all of us, we set aside this day each year to honor and 
                thank them and to rededicate ourselves to creating a 
                world in which the kind of sacrifice they have been 
                called upon to make need never be repeated. The 
                Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 115 of June 23, 
                1936 (49 Stat. 1895), has designated the last Sunday in 
                September as ``Gold Star Mother's Day'' and has 
                authorized and requested the President to issue a 
                proclamation in observance of this day.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim Sunday, 
                September 28, 1997, as Gold Star Mother's Day. I call 
                upon all government officials to display the United 
                States flag on government buildings on this solemn day. 
                I encourage the American people also to display the 
                flag and to hold appropriate meetings in their homes, 
                places of worship, or other suitable places as a public 
                expression of the sympathy and respect that our Nation 
                holds for our Gold Star Mothers.

[[Page 51366]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-second.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 97-26121
Filed 9-29-97; 10:59 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P