Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 107 Part 3.djvu/695

This page needs to be proofread.

PROCLAMATION 6541—APR. 9, 1993 107 STAT. 2633 ignated April 2, 1993, as "Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A." 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 April 2, 1993, as Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A. I call upon the people of the United States, government officials, educators, and volunteers to observe the day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventeenth. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 6541 of April 9, 1993 National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, 1993 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation As Americans enter a new era that holds prospects for greater international cooperation and the expansion of democracy's reach, we are deeply indebted to the Armed Forces of the United States. We recognize that their service helped our Nation preserve liberty through two World Wars and the testing regional conflicts of the Cold War era and since. We remember how their sacrifices helped to maintain our way of life and safeguard fireedom's cause. The sacrifices made by our military personnel take many forms, from their willingness to serve, to their countless acts of selfless coiurage, to the expenditure by hundreds of thousands in this centiuy of that last, full measure of devotion in behalf of their country. Today, we honor the particular sacrifice of the thousands of Americans who have been captured and held as prisoners of war—in Europe and the Pacific, in Korea and Vietnam, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and elsewhere. We know that many of our men and women in uniform have been subject to brutal torture and inhumane deprivation. The treatment they endured too often violated fundamental standards of morality and stood in stark contravention of international treaties and customs governing the treatment of prisoners of war. Many of these brave Americans were disabled or died as a result of such treatment. Their experiences underscore our debt to those who place their lives in harm's way and stand willing to trade their liberty for ours. As a Nation, we must always remember the sacrifices made by our men and women in imiform and their families. NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 9, 1993, as National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. I luge all Americans to join in honoring all members of the Armed Forces of the United