[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 22, 2009)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 48355-48356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-23006]



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Part II





The President





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Proclamation 8419--National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 2009
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  Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 182 / Tuesday, September 22, 2009 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 48355]]

                Proclamation 8419 of September 17, 2009

                
National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 2009

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Our Nation maintains a solemn commitment to leave no 
                service member behind. Our men and women in uniform 
                uphold this pledge every day, and our country further 
                upholds it as we honor every man and woman who serves, 
                particularly those taken as prisoners of war or missing 
                in action. We will never cease in our mission to bring 
                America's missing service members home; we will never 
                forget the sacrifices they made to keep this Nation 
                free; and we will forever honor their memory. On 
                National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we pay tribute to the 
                American men and women who have not returned from the 
                battlefield, and we express profound gratitude to those 
                who returned only after facing unimaginable hardship on 
                our behalf. Today, we also remember the families of our 
                prisoners of war and those missing in action and honor 
                the sacrifices they have made.

                Every day, Americans are working around the world to 
                identify and recover the remains of our fallen heroes. 
                It is a promise made, and a promise that will be kept. 
                Although their location may be unknown, we will not 
                waver in our commitment to see they are reunited with 
                the land they so valiantly defended.

                For those veterans who returned home after being 
                declared Missing in Action or having been imprisoned by 
                the enemy, we honor their service, their sacrifice, and 
                their courage. In distant lands, and under wretched and 
                torturous conditions, these men and women endured. 
                Faced with such tremendous adversity, they embody the 
                power of the human spirit--sustaining themselves with 
                hope and faith.

                On September 18, 2009, the stark black and white banner 
                symbolizing America's Missing in Action and Prisoners 
                of War will be flown over the White House, the Capitol, 
                the Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans 
                Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the 
                World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans 
                Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, United States 
                post offices, national cemeteries, and other locations 
                across our country. It is a powerful reminder that our 
                Nation will never cease in our commitment to honor 
                those who have paid so high a price in its service.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim September 18, 2009, 
                as National POW/MIA Recognition Day, and I urge all 
                Americans to observe this day of honor and remembrance 
                with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

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                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                fourth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. E9-23006
Filed 9-21-09; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3195-W9-P