[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 105 (Wednesday, May 31, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 34567-34568]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-13675]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 105 / Wednesday, May 31, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 34567]]

                Proclamation 7313 of May 24, 2000

                
Day of Honor, 2000

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Fifty-five years ago this month, the torch of freedom 
                burned bright in Europe once again as Nazi Germany 
                surrendered to the Allied Forces. Four months later, 
                with the defeat of Imperial Japan, World War II--
                history's bloodiest and most destructive conflict--
                finally came to an end.

                That war's unprecedented threat to world peace, 
                freedom, and human rights called forth an unprecedented 
                response from the American people. United and 
                determined after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, 
                American men and women poured into factories and 
                shipyards, working around the clock to build ships, 
                planes, tanks, and guns. Millions of others risked 
                their lives to defend our Nation and preserve the 
                ideals of democracy. By the war's end, some 15 million 
                had served in our Armed Forces, including more than 
                1,200,000 African Americans, 300,000 Hispanic 
                Americans, 50,000 Asian Americans, 20,000 Native 
                Americans, 6,000 Native Hawaiians and Pacific 
                Islanders, and 3,000 Native Alaskans.

                These minority members of our Armed Forces served with 
                honor and distinction in battles around the globe. Many 
                of them--like the Tuskegee Airmen, the Japanese 
                American troops of the Army's ``Go For Broke'' 
                regiment, and the Native American Code Talkers who 
                played a vital role in winning the war in the Pacific--
                were renowned for their bravery and dedication. 
                America's minority veterans fought other important 
                battles as well--battles against prejudice, ignorance, 
                and discrimination. Many gave their lives on foreign 
                soil for the freedom they had never fully shared at 
                home. Many of those who survived returned home from the 
                war and worked to make real in America the ideals for 
                which they had fought so hard and for which so many of 
                their comrades in arms had died.

                On this Day of Honor, we have the opportunity--and the 
                responsibility--to acknowledge the contributions our 
                minority veterans have made to the peace and freedom we 
                enjoy today. I ask my fellow citizens to join me in 
                saluting the African American, Hispanic American, Asian 
                American, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific 
                Islander, Native Alaskan, and other minority members 
                who served so valiantly in our Armed Forces during 
                World War II and to remember those who died in service 
                to our country. Their extraordinary devotion to duty is 
                a reminder to us all that our Nation's diversity is not 
                a cause for division, but rather one of our greatest 
                strengths.

                The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 44, has 
                authorized and requested the President to issue a 
                proclamation in recognition of the minority veterans 
                who served in World War II.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 25, 
                2000, as the Day of Honor, 2000. I call upon all 
                Americans to observe this day with appropriate 
                programs, ceremonies, and activities paying tribute to 
                the service and sacrifice of the minority veterans of 
                our Armed Forces who served during World War II.

[[Page 34568]]

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 00-13675
Filed 5-30-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P