[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 105 (Thursday, June 2, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X94-80602]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: June 2, 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.
