[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 102 (Wednesday, May 27, 2020)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 31931-31932]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-11542]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 102 / Wednesday, May 27, 2020 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 31931]]


                Proclamation 10040 of May 21, 2020

                
Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2020

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Since the first shots fired in the Revolutionary War, 
                Americans have answered the call to duty and given 
                their lives in service to our Nation and its sacred 
                founding ideals. As we pay tribute to the lives and 
                legacies of these patriots on Memorial Day, we also 
                remember that they sacrificed to create a better, more 
                peaceful future for our Nation and the world. We 
                recommit to realizing that vision, honoring the service 
                of so many who have placed love of country above all 
                else.

                As Americans, we will always defend our freedom and our 
                liberty. When those principles are threatened, we will 
                respond with uncompromising force and unparalleled 
                vigor. Generation after generation, our country's 
                finest have defended our Republic with honor and 
                distinction. Memorials, monuments, and rows of white 
                crosses and stars in places close to home like 
                Arlington, Virginia and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as 
                well as far-flung battlefields in places like Flanders 
                Field in Belgium and Busan in Korea, will forever 
                memorialize their heroic actions, standing as solemn 
                testaments to the price of freedom. We will never take 
                for granted the blood shed by these gallant men and 
                women, as we are forever indebted to them and their 
                families.

                This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Allied 
                victories over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World 
                War II. As we commemorate these seminal events, we also 
                remember the tremendous cost at which these victories 
                came. More than 400,000 souls of the Greatest 
                Generation perished during this titanic struggle to 
                liberate the world from tyranny. In his address to the 
                Nation on Japan's surrender, President Truman's words 
                remind us all of our enduring obligation to these 
                patriots for their sacrifice: ``It is our 
                responsibility--ours the living--to see to it that this 
                victory shall be a monument worthy of the dead who died 
                to win it.'' As we pause to recall the lives lost from 
                the ranks of our Armed Forces, we remain eternally 
                grateful for the path they paved toward a world made 
                freer from oppression.

                Our fallen warriors gave their last breath for our 
                country and our freedom. Today, let us pause in quiet 
                reverence to reflect on the incredible dedication of 
                these valiant men and women and their families, 
                invoking divine Providence as we continue pursuing our 
                noble goal of lasting peace for the world.

                In honor and recognition of all of our fallen heroes, 
                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, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial 
                Day, May 25, 2020, as a day of prayer for permanent 
                peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each

[[Page 31932]]

                locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time when 
                people might unite in prayer.

                I further ask all Americans to observe the National 
                Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time 
                on Memorial Day.

                I also request the Governors of the United States and 
                its Territories, and the appropriate officials of all 
                units of government, to direct that, on Memorial Day, 
                the flag be flown at half-staff until noon on all 
                buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the 
                United States 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-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and forty-fourth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2020-11542
Filed 5-26-20; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F0-P