    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 134, 116th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    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,

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    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
    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

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    Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
    fourth.
    DONALD J. TRUMP