[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 14 (Monday, April 10, 1995)]
[Pages 557-558]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6782--National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, 1995

April 6, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    In the centuries since our Nation was founded, our citizens have 
been called on time and again to defend the blessings of American 
democracy. Although the enemies of freedom have often risen from distant 
shores, the valiant men and women who wear our Nation's uniform have 
made freedom's fight their own. From Europe to the Pacific, Korea to the 
Persian Gulf, these Americans and their families have suffered through 
the darkest hours of humanity so that the cause of human dignity might 
endure.
    It is in gratitude that we pause each year to recall the courage and 
to honor the service of the sons and daughters of America who have been 
held as prisoners of war. Few words can express the depth of their 
sacrifice

[[Page 558]]

or the worthiness of their mission. Often subjected to extreme brutality 
in violation of international codes and customs governing their 
treatment, many of our people have come home with disabling wounds and 
injuries. Too many of our people have not come home at all.
    Today, the lives of these extraordinary Americans and the stories of 
their indomitable spirits are at the core of our national character. The 
citizens of the United States will always remember the proud individuals 
who traded their liberty to preserve our own. We will build on the 
triumphs of democracy that they have helped to ensure. And in speaking 
of their bravery, we will tell our children and grandchildren that 
though bodies may be imprisoned, hearts can remain ever free.
    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 April 9, 
1995, as ``National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day.'' I urge 
State and local officials, private organizations, and U.S. citizens 
everywhere to join in honoring the members of the United States Armed 
Forces who have been held as prisoners of war. I call upon all Americans 
to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of 
April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
nineteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:17 p.m., April 6, 
1995]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
10.