[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 20 (Monday, May 22, 1995)]
[Pages 851-852]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6802--Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1995

May 18, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The essence of America is the quality and breadth of the freedoms 
guaranteed by the Constitution. Yet far too often in our country's 
history, the price of preserving these freedoms has been the lives of 
our Nation's young men and women and the heartbreak of their families 
and friends. The light and laughter of our lost sons and daughters can 
never be replaced. But the gift of their courage will always endure. 
America remembers the sacrifices of those who gave their lives to 
protect our liberty. For our citizens and for freedom-loving people 
around the world, they have kept democracy's flame burning brightly.
    Forged in revolution and tempered by more than two centuries of 
fighting injustice, America has grown stronger, determined to safeguard 
the blessings that have been so hard-won. As we recall the selfless 
devotion of those who have risen to defend the cause of freedom, we 
resolve today that their efforts shall not have been in vain. America 
still holds fast to the principles upon which it was founded, and its 
people still stand bound together by our common faith in peace. In 
remembrance of our fallen heroes, we pray that peace will forever grace 
our land, that it will guide relations between citizens and friendships 
among nations, and that our people will one day see a time when harmony 
fills the Earth.
    May God comfort all who mourn.
    In respect and recognition of the courageous men and women to whom 
we pay tribute, the Congress, by joint resolution approved on May 11, 
1950 (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation 
calling upon 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.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 29, 1995, as a 
day of prayer for permanent peace. I designate the hour beginning in 
each locality at 11 o'clock in the morning of that day as a time to join 
in prayer. I urge the press, radio, television, and all information 
media to take part in this observance.
    I also request the Governors of the United States and the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units 
of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff until noon 
during this Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels 
throughout the United States and in all areas under its jurisdiction and 
control, and I request the people of the United

[[Page 852]]

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 eighteenth day 
of May, 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, 10:48 a.m., May 19, 
1995]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on May 22.