[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 51365-51366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-26121]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 189 / Tuesday, September 30, 1997 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 51365]]
Proclamation 7028 of September 25, 1997
Gold Star Mother's Day, 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, 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 Mother'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.
[[Page 51366]]
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.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 97-26121
Filed 9-29-97; 10:59 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
