[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 21 (Monday, May 29, 2000)]
[Pages 1209-1210]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7313--Day of Honor, 2000

May 24, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Fifty-five years ago this month, the torch of freedom burned bright 
in Europe once again as Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces. 
Four months later, with the defeat of Imperial Japan, World War II--
history's bloodiest and most destructive conflict--finally came to an 
end.
    That war's unprecedented threat to world peace, freedom, and human 
rights called forth an unprecedented response from the American people. 
United and determined after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, American 
men and women poured into factories and shipyards, working around the 
clock to build ships, planes, tanks, and guns. Millions of others risked 
their lives to defend our Nation and preserve the ideals of democracy. 
By the war's end, some 15 million had served in our Armed Forces, 
including more than 1,200,000 African Americans, 300,000 Hispanic 
Americans, 50,000 Asian Americans, 20,000 Native Americans, 6,000 Native 
Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and 3,000 Native Alaskans.
    These minority members of our Armed Forces served with honor and 
distinction in battles around the globe. Many of them--like the Tuskegee 
Airmen, the Japanese American troops of the Army's ``Go For Broke'' 
regiment, and the Native American Code Talkers who played a vital role 
in winning the war in the Pacific--were renowned for their bravery and 
dedication. America's minority veterans fought other important battles 
as well--battles against prejudice, ignorance, and discrimination. Many 
gave their lives on foreign soil for the freedom they had never fully 
shared at home. Many of those who survived returned home from the war 
and worked to make real in America the ideals for which they had fought 
so hard and for which so many of their comrades in arms had died.
    On this Day of Honor, we have the opportunity--and the 
responsibility--to acknowledge the contributions our minority veterans 
have made to the peace and freedom we enjoy today. I ask my fellow 
citizens to join me in saluting the African American, Hispanic American, 
Asian American, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, 
Native Alaskan, and other minority members who served so valiantly in 
our Armed Forces during World War II and to remember those who died in 
service to our country. Their extraordinary devotion to duty is a 
reminder to us all that our Nation's diversity is not a

[[Page 1210]]

cause for division, but rather one of our greatest strengths.
    The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 44, has authorized and 
requested the President to issue a proclamation in recognition of the 
minority veterans who served in World War II.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim May 25, 2000, as the Day of Honor, 
2000. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate 
programs, ceremonies, and activities paying tribute to the service and 
sacrifice of the minority veterans of our Armed Forces who served during 
World War II.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth 
day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand, 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., May 30, 2000]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on May 25, and it will be published in the Federal Register on 
May 31.