[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 1995)]
[Page 1465]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6818--National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 1995

August 29, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Throughout our proud history, America's sons and daughters have 
answered the call to defend our fundamental liberties and to safeguard 
the freedoms of peace-seeking countries around the globe. Representing 
the finest this Nation has to offer, the members of our Armed Forces 
have given everything of themselves in defense of the independence and 
democracy that we hold so dear. This year we have a special opportunity 
to honor their service as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end 
of World War II, the dedication of the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and 
the unveiling of the POW and MIA postage stamp.
    In remembering these heroic men and women, it is with profound 
respect and solemn appreciation that we single out those who paid the 
heaviest price. Among them are the Prisoners of War and those Missing in 
Action. Their courage and devotion to duty, honor, and country--often in 
the face of brutal treatment and torture by their captors--will never be 
forgotten by the American people.
    Our Nation also recognizes that the families of these brave citizens 
have suffered and made great sacrifices for our country. For it is in 
the name of both the missing and their loved ones that we aggressively 
pursue the release of any United States service member held against his 
or her will, that we search tirelessly for information about the 
missing, and that we seek the repatriation of recoverable American 
remains.
    On September 15, 1995, the flag of the National League of Families 
of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia, a black and 
white banner symbolizing America's missing, will be flown over the White 
House, the Capitol, the United States Departments of State, Defense, and 
Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the Vietnam 
Veterans and Korean War Veterans Memorials, and national cemeteries 
across the country. This flag is a symbol of our Nation's covenant with 
those who defend us and with the loved ones they leave behind--the brave 
individuals who have earned our everlasting gratitude and their families 
who deserve our deepest sympathy and our national pledge to achieve the 
fullest possible accounting of American troops.
    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 September 
15, 1995, as ``National POW/MIA Recognition Day.'' I urge State and 
local officials, private organizations, and citizens everywhere to join 
in honoring all Prisoners of War and Missing in Action still unaccounted 
for as a result of their dedicated service to our great country. I also 
encourage the American people to recognize and acknowledge the steadfast 
vigil the families of the missing maintain in their quest for answers 
and a conclusion to their struggle. Finally, I call upon all Americans 
to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth 
day of August, 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 twentieth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:48 p.m., August 29, 
1995]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on August 
31.