[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 39 (Monday, October 4, 1999)]
[Page 1821]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7226--Gold Star Mother's Day, 1999

September 24, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    For generations, the brave men and women of our Armed Forces have 
answered our Nation's call to service. In the air, on the sea, and 
across the world's battlefields, they have fought with valor and 
determination so that we might continue to live in freedom. The 
blessings of liberty and peace we know today have been paid for with the 
lives of those who never returned home.
    The Gold Star Mothers of America know the price of freedom all too 
well. They have experienced one of life's greatest joys in becoming a 
parent and have endured one of life's greatest sorrows in losing a son 
or daughter. The spirit of sacrifices made by our fallen warriors lives 
on in the hearts of our Gold Star Mothers.
    Their sacrifice lives on as well in the work Gold Star Mothers 
perform in communities throughout our country, working with disabled 
veterans and their families, nurturing patriotism in a new generation of 
young Americans, reaching out to others who have lost a child in the 
service of our Nation, and ensuring that the contributions of their own 
sons and daughters are never forgotten. The generous and compassionate 
work of Gold Star Mothers is a powerful legacy of service that they 
carry on in loving memory of their children.
    We have a profound obligation to honor the service and sacrifice of 
these remarkable women as we honor their children. That is why 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 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 September 26, 1999, as Gold Star 
Mother's Day. I call on all government officials to display the United 
States flag on government buildings on this day. I also urge the 
American people to display the flag to hold appropriate meetings in 
their homes, places of worship, or other suitable places as a public 
expression of the sympathy and the respect that our Nation holds for its 
Gold Star Mothers.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth 
day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., September 28, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 29. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.