    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [December 5, 2008]
    [Pages 1413-1414]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
    Proclamation and the Proclamation To Establish the World War II Valor in
    the Pacific National Monument
    December 5, 2008

        The President. Thank you all for coming. I am going to sign two
    documents: one a Pearl Harbor Day proclamation and the other creating
    the World War II Valor in Pacific National Monument. The national
    monument will include nine sites: five in Hawaii, three in Alaska, and
    one in California at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, where Japanese
    Americans were detained during World War II.
        The purpose of the monument is to remind generations of Americans of
    the sacrifices that Americans made to protect our country. But there's a
    broader purpose as well, and that is to remind generations of Americans
    about the transformative effect of freedom.
        One of the great stories of--during World War II was that people
    fought bitterly to defend our country and way of life and then worked to
    help our enemies develop democracies according to their own cultures and
    their own history. And today I am so pleased to report that Japan is a
    strong ally of the United States of America, an ally in defending our
    liberties, and an ally in spreading liberty as the great ideological
    alternative to an enemy that still wants to do us harm.

    [[Page 1414]]

        And so this monument will help people realize the breadth and the
    history of World War II and its aftermath.
        So I'm pleased to sign both documents, and I want to thank our
    distinguished visitors for joining me.

    [At this point, the President signed the proclamations.]

        The President. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. The proclamations are listed in Appendix D at the end of this
    volume.