[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.