[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 106 (Friday, June 1, 2012)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 32879-32880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13516]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 106 / Friday, June 1, 2012 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 32879]]


                Proclamation 8831 of May 25, 2012

                
Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2012

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Our Nation endures and thrives because of the devotion 
                of our men and women in uniform, who, from generation 
                to generation, carry a burden heavier than any we may 
                ever know. On Memorial Day, we honor those who have 
                borne conflict's greatest cost, mourn where the wounds 
                of war are fresh, and pray for a just, lasting peace.

                The American fabric is stitched with the stories of 
                sons and daughters who gave their lives in service to 
                the country they loved. They were patriots who 
                overthrew an empire and sparked revolution. They were 
                courageous men and women who strained to hold a young 
                Union together. They were ordinary citizens who rolled 
                back the creeping tide of tyranny, who stood post 
                through a long twilight struggle, who saw terror and 
                extremism threaten our world's security and said, 
                ``I'll go.'' And though their stories are unique to the 
                challenges they faced, our fallen service members are 
                forever bound by a legacy of valor older than the 
                Republic itself. Now they lay at rest in quiet corners 
                of our country and the world, but they live on in the 
                families who loved them and in the soul of a Nation 
                that is safer for their service.

                Today, we join together in prayer for the fallen. We 
                remember all who have borne the battle, whose devotion 
                to duty has sustained our country and kept safe our 
                heritage as a free people in a free society. Though our 
                hearts ache in their absence, we find comfort in 
                knowing that their legacy lives on in all of us--in the 
                security that lets us live in peace, the prosperity 
                that allows us to pursue our dreams, and the love that 
                still beats in those who knew them. May God bless the 
                souls of the venerable warriors we have lost, and may 
                He watch over the men and women who serve us now. 
                Today, tomorrow, and in perpetuity, let us give thanks 
                to them by remaining true to the values and virtues for 
                which they fight.

                In honor of all of our fallen service members, the 
                Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950, 
                as amended (36 U.S.C. 116), has requested the President 
                issue a proclamation calling on the people of the 
                United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of 
                prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on 
                that day when the people of the United States might 
                unite in prayer. The Congress, by Public Law 106-579, 
                has also designated 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as 
                a time for all Americans to observe, in their own way, 
                the National Moment of Remembrance.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial 
                Day, May 28, 2012, as a day of prayer for permanent 
                peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each 
                locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite 
                in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the 
                National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m. 
                local time on Memorial Day.

                I request the Governors of the United States and the 
                Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate 
                officials of all units of government, to direct that 
                the flag be flown at half-staff until noon on this 
                Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval 
                vessels throughout the United States

[[Page 32880]]

                and in all areas under its jurisdiction and control. I 
                also request the people of the United States to display 
                the flag at half-staff from their homes for the 
                customary forenoon period.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2012-13516
Filed 5-31-12; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F2-P