[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 38 (Monday, September 23, 1996)]
[Pages 1791-1792]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6918--National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 1996

September 18, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Since our country's birth, Americans have responded to military 
threats against liberty and democracy, whether at home or in remote 
areas of the world. The young men and women of our Armed Forces 
understand the need to resist oppression, and they have willingly put 
themselves in harm's way around the globe to do so. Those young 
Americans who stand in the defense of freedom are our country's most 
precious natural resource.
    It is particularly painful when these brave Americans are made 
Prisoners of War, or are classified as Missing in Action. They have 
earned our deep appreciation and respect for the great sacrifices they 
have made so that all of us can continue to enjoy the privileges of 
liberty. In keeping faith with them, we continue our concerted efforts 
to determine the fate of all those who are unaccounted for and to bring 
home the remains of those who have perished.
    The grief for our prisoners of war and those missing in action is 
most intense, of course, among their families and loved ones at home, 
who wait--often for years, and sometimes in vain--for confirmation of 
their fate. These families display their own courage too, by their 
endurance in the face of deep anxiety. Their cause is our cause, and we 
pledge ourselves to them anew on this special day.
    On September 20, 1996, the flag of the National League of Families 
of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia, a black-and-
white banner symbolizing all of America's missing, will be flown over 
the White House, the United States Capitol, the United States 
Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective 
Service System headquarters, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean 
War Veterans Memorial, and national cemeteries across the country.
    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 
20, 1996, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I ask all Americans to 
join me in honoring former American POWs and those Americans still 
unaccounted for as a result of their service to our great Nation. I also 
encourage the American people to express their gratitude to the families 
of these missing Ameri- 

[[Page 1792]]

          cans for their perseverance through the many years of waiting. 
            Finally, I urge Federal, State, and local officials and 
            private organizations to observe this day with appropriate 
            ceremonies, programs, and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day 
of September, 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 twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., September 19, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 20.