[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 21 (Monday, May 27, 1996)]
[Page 942]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6901--Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1996

May 24, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    On the last Monday of May each year, our Nation takes time to 
remember those who have given their lives to safeguard America's 
freedom. Courageous and loyal citizens have died on battlefields around 
the world in defense of the United States, our interests, and our 
values, thus ensuring more than two centuries of independence and a 
society based on individual rights. Their selflessness demands our 
profound gratitude and calls us to consider anew the awesome price of 
liberty.
    On this special day, let us reflect upon the supreme sacrifice made 
by our fellow citizens lost in battle. All were proud members of our 
national community, and all perished while protecting our country's 
honor and the American way of life. Let us share in the grief of the 
families whose loved ones remain unaccounted for or fell while defending 
this great Nation. And let us pray, each in our own way, for peace 
throughout this land and across the globe. As beneficiaries of the 
freedoms our troops secured, we can best pay tribute to their deeds by 
leaving to future generations an America that continues to be a beacon 
of justice and freedom for people everywhere.
    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 American people might unite in prayer.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 27, 1996, 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 to join in prayer. I 
urge the press, radio, television, and all other 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 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 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-fourth 
day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, 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, 8:45 a.m., May 28, 1996]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on May 
29.