    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 133, 116th Congress, 1st Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    Proclamation 9904 of June 6, 2019

    National Day of Remembrance of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day

    By the President of the United States of America

    A Proclamation

    On June 6, 1944, D-Day, more than 130,000 American and Allied troops
    stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, and thousands more parachuted
    in behind enemy lines, on a mission to retake Europe from the control of
    Nazi Germany. The night before the operation, the largest amphibious
    assault in the history of war, General Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a
    message to the Allied Expeditionary Force: ``The eyes of the world are
    upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere
    march with you . . . We will accept nothing less than full victory.''
    Seventy-five years later, these words remind us of the magnitude of the
    day and of the heroism of the thousands who waded onto the beaches,
    parachuted into the countryside, and gave their all to change the course
    of history and to bring liberty to millions.
    On that fateful June morning, before dawn, paratroopers from the Army's
    82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, among others, fell in be

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    hind enemy lines. Shortly thereafter, the first wave of American,
    British, and Canadian infantry divisions, which had crossed the English
    Channel in 7,000 vessels and landing craft, rushed forth onto the five
    beaches of the targeted 50-mile stretch of the French coastline,
    codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
    Awaiting these brave men was a shoreline littered with anti-landing
    obstacles, landmines, bunkers, and strategically positioned machine-gun
    nests. These defenses inflicted devastating losses on the Allied forces.
    1,465 Americans perished on the beaches of Normandy that day. On Omaha
    Beach--the bloodiest of the five--the U.S. Army's 1st and 29th Infantry
    Divisions suffered horrific losses: 2,400 soldiers were killed or
    wounded by day's end.
    Secure in the nobility of their cause and driven by love of country, the
    heroes of D-Day pressed forward against the German onslaught. Through
    their gallantry and dedication to duty, they overwhelmed the enemy and
    secured a beachhead that allowed wave after wave of infantry to push
    onto the continent. By day's end, the D-Day forces had pried open
    Europe's northern door--so tightly sealed by the Nazis for years.
    Through that door streamed the forces of liberation, which ultimately
    ended the war, ended the horrors of the Holocaust, ended the tyrannical
    Hitler regime, and laid the foundations of a peace that persists to this
    day.
    Today, we pause to remember and honor all of the brave soldiers,
    sailors, and airmen whose selfless sacrifices catalyzed the deliverance
    of oppressed people and secured freedom for decades to come. May we
    always be true to the virtues and principles for which this D-Day
    generation--the Greatest Generation--paid so dearly. As we mark 75 years
    since the D-Day landings, we recognize that their legacy grows ever more
    meaningful with time. The story of America will forever include the
    valor and sacrifice of the intrepid servicemen who took those beaches in
    northwest France on June 6, 1944.
    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 June 6, 2019, as a
    National Day of Remembrance of the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. I call
    upon all Americans to observe this day with programs, ceremonies, and
    activities that honor those who fought and died so that men and women
    they had never met might know what it is to be free.
    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of June,
    in the year of our Lord two thousand nineteen, and of the Independence
    of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.
    DONALD J. TRUMP