[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 244 (Tuesday, December 21, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 71629-71630]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33277]



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Part VIII





The President





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Proclamation 7261--55th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge



Proclamation 7262--Wright Brothers Day, 1999
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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 244 / Tuesday, December 21, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 71629]]

                Proclamation 7261 of December 16, 1999

                
55th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                By the winter of 1944, the United States and our Allies 
                had turned the tide of the Second World War. Allied 
                forces had liberated the Italian peninsula and were 
                gaining ground in France and the Low Countries. In mid-
                December, in a desperate attempt to halt this steady 
                advance, Adolf Hitler launched a furious and massive 
                counteroffensive. On December 16, 29 German divisions 
                flooded the Allied line in the Ardennes Forest region 
                of Belgium and Luxembourg. The Battle of the Bulge had 
                begun.

                Facing superior enemy numbers, rugged terrain, and 
                bitter weather, the American troops at first fell back. 
                But their determination to defeat the Nazis never 
                wavered. For 6 weeks, U.S. soldiers responded to fierce 
                German offensives with equally determined 
                counterattacks, refusing to succumb to the Nazi 
                onslaught. The siege of Bastogne in Belgium remains an 
                enduring symbol of their indomitable spirit. At that 
                strategic crossroads, a small detachment of the 101st 
                Airborne Division and other attached troops were 
                encircled. When called upon to surrender by the much 
                larger German force, Brigadier General Anthony 
                McAuliffe dismissed the demand with his legendary one-
                word reply: ``Nuts.'' Against all odds, he and his men 
                held firm during the siege until reinforcements arrived 
                and helped halt the German offensive at a critical 
                point in the Battle.

                Inevitably, the spirit, toughness, valor, and resolve 
                of the U.S. forces led to victory. By late January of 
                1945, the American and Allied counterattack had 
                succeeded in pushing back the Nazi forces, eliminating 
                the threat of further German offensives and ultimately 
                sealing the fate of the Nazi regime. But this victory 
                was costly. At the end of the Battle of the Bulge, some 
                19,000 Americans lay dead, and thousands more were 
                wounded, captured, or missing in action.

                Now, more than half a century later, we still stand in 
                awe of the courage and sacrifice of the more than 
                600,000 U.S. soldiers and airmen who fought that epic 
                battle. These seemingly ordinary Americans achieved 
                extraordinary things. Leaving their homes, their 
                families, and their civilian lives behind them, they 
                stepped forward to wage a crusade for freedom. They 
                laid the foundations of the peace and security we enjoy 
                today and planted the seeds of democracy that now are 
                bearing fruit throughout Europe. Many of these heroes 
                and patriots have gone to their final rest; but their 
                service, their sacrifice, and their achievements will 
                live forever in the memories and hearts of their fellow 
                Americans.

                The Congress by House Joint Resolution 65, has 
                authorized and requested the President to issue a 
                proclamation honoring the veterans of the Battle of the 
                Bulge.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim the period 
                of December 16, 1999, to January 25, 2000, as a time to 
                commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Battle of the 
                Bulge. I call upon the people of the United States to 
                express our profound gratitude to the veterans of the 
                Battle of the Bulge and to honor them with appropriate 
                programs, ceremonies, and activities.

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                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-fourth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-33277
Filed 12-20-99; 10:59 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P