[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 105 (Thursday, June 2, 1994)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 28463-28464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-13591]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: June 2, 1994]
Editorial note: For the President's remarks honoring
our veterans, see volume 30, issue 22 of the Weekly
Compilation of Presidential Documents.
Presidential Documents
Proclamation 6697 of May 30, 1994
D-Day National Remembrance Day and Time for the
National Observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary of
World War II, 1994
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Fifty years ago on June 6, 1944, the largest armada of
land, sea, and air forces ever assembled embarked on a
great crusade across the English Channel to free the
European continent of a tyranny that had taken hold and
threatened to strangle the very freedoms we cherish
most. Over 5,000 ships and 10,000 aircraft carried more
than 130,000 soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the
United States, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, France,
Norway, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand,
Australia, Luxembourg, and Belgium to the shores of
Normandy. More than 9,000 Americans never returned.
D-Day was considered crucial not only by the Allies,
but also by the Axis powers. Field Marshall Irwin
Rommel, commander of the enemy forces in the area,
dubbed the first 24 hours as ``The Longest Day,''
referring to the fact that if the Allies were
successful in establishing a beachhead, many more units
would follow, overwhelming the enemy in the West.
However, for the Allied forces, June 6, 1944, was truly
``The Longest Day'' for a different reason. For the men
who landed on the beaches that fateful day, each minute
of combat was like an eternity as they were
continuously bombarded by the unyielding Nazi forces.
But the enemy was unsuccessful, as the Allied forces
had more than just their will to win urging them on. As
defenders of justice, they were driven by the desire to
restore the peace and freedom that the Nazi occupation
had denied to millions of people. Anne Frank wrote of
the impending invasion in her diary:
``It's no exaggeration to say that all Amsterdam, all
Holland, yes the whole west coast of Europe, right down
to Spain, talks about the invasion day and night,
debates about it, and makes bets on it and--hopes . . .
. The best part of the invasion is that I have the
feeling that friends are approaching. We have been
oppressed by those terrible Nazis for so long, they
have their knives at our throats, that the thought of
friends and delivery fills me with confidence.''
For Anne Frank, that deliverance never came, for she
died in a concentration camp just months before the end
of the war. But millions of others were delivered from
oppression and fear. Those who landed on the beaches of
Normandy, not only on D-Day but also throughout the
rest of the war, were responsible for the liberation of
many of the concentration camps as well as cities,
towns, and villages throughout Europe that had suffered
for so many years.
Thus, 1944 was a year of triumphs and sorrows. The
Allies made great advances in bringing liberty to
millions, while families and friends on the home front,
faced with the knowledge that many of their loved ones
would not return, continued to build the ``Arsenal of
Democracy.''
It is to those millions of American men and women,
veterans and civilians, those who came home from the
war and those who made the ultimate sacrifice that we
say ``a grateful Nation remembers.'' We must never
forget the high price paid by the valiant to ensure the
freedoms of the many.
The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 303, has
designated June 6, 1994, as ``D-Day National
Remembrance Day.''
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 June 6, 1994, as D-Day
National Remembrance Day, and May 30, 1994, through
June 6, 1994, as a Time for the National Observance of
the Fiftieth Anniversary of World War II. I call upon
all Americans to observe this period with appropriate
programs and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and
eighteenth.
(Presidential Sig.)>
[FR Doc. 94-13591
Filed 5-31-94; 2:52 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P
