[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 22 (Monday, June 6, 1994)]
[Pages 1189-1190]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6697--D-Day National Remembrance Day and Time for the 
National Observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary of World War II, 1994

May 30, 1994

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Fifty years ago on June 6, 1944, the largest armada of land, sea, 
and air forces ever assembled embarked on a great crusade across the 
English Channel to free the European continent of a tyranny that had 
taken hold and threatened to strangle the very freedoms we cherish most. 
Over 5,000 ships and 10,000 aircraft carried more than 130,000 soldiers, 
sailors, and airmen from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, 
Poland, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, 
Australia, Luxembourg, and Belgium to the shores of Normandy. More than 
9,000 Americans never returned.
    D-Day was considered crucial not only by the Allies, but also by the 
Axis powers. Field Marshall Irwin Rommel, commander of the enemy forces 
in the area, dubbed the first 24 hours as ``The Longest Day,'' referring 
to the fact that if the Allies were successful in establishing a 
beachhead, many more units would follow, overwhelming the enemy in the 
West. However, for the Allied forces, June 6, 1944, was truly ``The 
Longest Day'' for a different reason. For the men who landed on the 
beaches that fateful day, each minute of combat was like an eternity as 
they were continuously bombarded by the unyielding Nazi forces.
    But the enemy was unsuccessful, as the Allied forces had more than 
just their will to win urging them on. As defenders of justice, they 
were driven by the desire to restore the peace and freedom that the Nazi 
occupation had denied to millions of people. Anne Frank wrote of the 
impending invasion in her diary:
      ``It's no exaggeration to say that all Amsterdam, all Holland, yes 
      the whole west coast of Europe, right down to Spain, talks about 
      the invasion day and night, debates about it, and makes bets on it 
      and--hopes . . . The best part of the invasion is that I have the 
      feeling that friends are approaching. We have been oppressed by 
      those terrible Nazis for so long, they have their knives at our 
      throats, that the thought of friends and delivery fills me with 
      confidence.''
    For Anne Frank, that deliverance never came, for she died in a 
concentration camp just months before the end of the war. But millions 
of others were delivered from oppression and fear. Those who landed on 
the beaches of Normandy, not only on D-Day but also throughout the rest 
of the war, were responsible for the liberation of many of the 
concentration camps as well as cities, towns, and villages throughout 
Europe that had suffered for so many years.
    Thus, 1944 was a year of triumphs and sorrows. The Allies made great 
advances in bringing liberty to millions, while families and friends on 
the home front, faced with the knowledge that many of their loved ones 
would not return, continued to build the ``Arsenal of Democracy.''
    It is to those millions of American men and women, veterans and 
civilians, those who came home from the war and those who made the 
ultimate sacrifice that we say ``a grateful Nation remembers.'' We must 
never forget the high price paid by the valiant to ensure the freedoms 
of the many.
    The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 303, has designated June 6, 
1994, as ``D-Day National Remembrance Day.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 6, 
1994, as D-Day National Remembrance Day, and May 30, 1994, through June 
6, 1994, as a Time for the National Observance of the Fiftieth 
Anniversary of World War II. I call upon all Americans to observe this 
period with appropriate programs and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day 
of May, in the year

[[Page 1190]]

of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of 
the United States of America the two hundred and eighteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 2:52 p.m., May 31, 1994]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on June 2.