[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 39 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[Pages 1422-1423]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7028--Gold Star Mother's Day, 1997

September 25, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    As a free people, Americans have always sought to live our lives in 
peace; but history's harsh lessons have taught us that to remain free, 
we must be prepared for war. At many times and in many ways throughout 
the year,

[[Page 1423]]

we remember the millions of selfless Americans whose wartime service 
helped preserve our freedom and the values we hold dear; and it is 
fitting that we should do so. But we must also remember that not all of 
the sacrifices that sustained us were made on the battlefield.
    Long after the devastation of war ceases, the destruction left in 
its wake continues to afflict those who survive. For America's Gold Star 
Mothers--who have lost a child in the service of our country--the grief 
is particularly acute. The sons and daughters they cherished through the 
years, whom they guided and comforted through all the joys and 
heartaches of childhood and adolescence, were torn from their lives 
forever with cruel and sudden force. These mothers must live the rest of 
their lives knowing that the talents and ambitions of their children 
will never be fulfilled, that each family gathering or celebration will 
be shadowed by the absence of a dearly loved son or daughter.
    Yet despite the enormity of their loss, America's Gold Star Mothers 
have continued to do what comes naturally to mothers: to comfort, to 
nurture, to give of themselves for the benefit of others. Through their 
devotion to our disabled veterans and their families, their generous 
community service, and their dedication to preserving the memory of the 
fallen, Gold Star Mothers remind us in so many poignant ways that true 
love of country often calls for both service and sacrifice.
    For these reasons and more, and in recognition of the special burden 
that Gold Star Mothers bear on behalf of all of us, we set aside this 
day each year to honor and thank them and to rededicate ourselves to 
creating a world in which the kind of sacrifice they have been called 
upon to make need never be repeated. The Congress, by Senate Joint 
Resolution 115 of June 23, 1936 (49 Stat. 1895), has designated the last 
Sunday in September as ``Gold Star Mother's Day'' and has authorized and 
requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this 
day.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Sunday, September 28, 1997, as 
Gold Star Mothers's Day. I call upon all government officials to display 
the United States flag on government buildings on this solemn day. I 
encourage the American people also to display the flag and to hold 
appropriate meetings in their homes, places of worship, or other 
suitable places as a public expression of the sympathy and respect that 
our Nation holds for our Gold Star Mothers.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth 
day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:59 a.m., September 
29, 1997]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
September 30.