[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 70 (Thursday, April 13, 2017)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 17747-17748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07580]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 82 , No. 70 / Thursday, April 13, 2017 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 17747]]


                Proclamation 9591 of April 7, 2017

                
National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, 
                2017

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                On National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, 
                America honors our service men and women imprisoned 
                during war. These patriots have moved and inspired our 
                Nation through their unyielding sacrifices and devout 
                allegiance. We honor the strength through adversity of 
                all of these heroes from our Nation's wars and 
                conflicts, from the American Revolution to the World 
                Wars, from Korea to Vietnam, from Desert Storm to the 
                War on Terror.

                American service members serve and fight selflessly 
                each day to secure the freedoms we often take for 
                granted. They bear the full weight of their oath to 
                ``support and defend the Constitution of the United 
                States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,'' in 
                which there is no safety clause. None know this so well 
                as our former prisoners of war (POWs). According to the 
                Department of Veterans Affairs, more than half a 
                million Americans have been captured and interned as 
                POWs since the American Revolution.

                This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Bataan 
                Death March. After the surrender of the Bataan 
                peninsula in the Philippines on April 9, 1942, Filipino 
                and American soldiers were rounded up and forced to 
                march 60 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando. An 
                estimated 500 Americans died during the march, as they 
                were starved, beaten, and tortured to death. Those who 
                reached San Fernando were taken in cramped boxcars to 
                POW camps, where thousands more Americans died of 
                disease and starvation.

                These stories remind us of the great sacrifice and 
                bravery of our men and women in the Armed Forces. 
                Throughout our history, they have risked everything to 
                defend our country. They have been stripped of liberty, 
                and regained it. They have faced the darkness of 
                captivity, and emerged to the warm light of freedom. 
                These victories have no match. These triumphs ignite 
                the flame of liberty deep within their hearts, and in 
                ours, and make America the great Nation it is today.

                But in celebrating those POWs who returned from 
                captivity, we also solemnly remember and honor those 
                who died in captivity. They paid the ultimate price for 
                their love of country.

                As President, I am committed to providing our veterans, 
                and especially our former POWs, with the support, care, 
                and resources they deserve. Our country owes a debt to 
                our heroes that we can never adequately repay, but 
                which we will always honor each day.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, 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 April 9, 2017, as 
                National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. I call 
                upon Americans to observe this day by honoring the 
                service and sacrifice of all our former prisoners of 
                war and to express our Nation's eternal gratitude for 
                their sacrifice. I also call upon Federal, State, and 
                local government officials and organizations to observe 
                this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

[[Page 17748]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                first.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2017-07580
Filed 4-12-17; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F7-P