National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, 2012

Proclamation 8844 of July 27, 2012

National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, 2012

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Sixty-two years ago, the Communist invasion of the
Republic of Korea summoned a generation of Americans to
serve. From the landings at Inchon to the Pusan
Perimeter, from Heartbreak Ridge to Chosin Reservoir,
our forces fought with immeasurable courage in one of
the defining moments of the Cold War. Today, on the
59th anniversary of the Military Armistice Agreement
signed at Panmunjom, we honor all who served in the
Korean War, and we pay lasting tribute to the brave men
and women who gave their lives for our Nation.

Through 3 years of combat, American service members and
allied forces overcame some of the most unforgiving
conditions in modern warfare. They weathered bitter
winters and punishing heat. They fought on with courage
and distinction--often outgunned and outmanned. Many
Americans suffered wounds that would never fully heal.
Still more we count among the captured and the missing,
and our resolve to account for Americans who did not
come home will never waver. Most of all, we honor the
tens of thousands of Americans who gave their lives
defending a country they had never known and a people
they had never met. Their legacy lives on not only in
the hearts of the American people, but in a Republic of
Korea that is free and prosperous; an alliance that is
stronger than ever before; and a world that is safer
for their service.

Shortly after the Military Armistice Agreement was
signed, President Dwight D. Eisenhower noted that
``with special feelings of sorrow--and of solemn
gratitude--we think of those who were called upon to
lay down their lives in that far-off land to prove once
again that only courage and sacrifice can keep freedom
alive upon the earth.'' Nearly six decades later, we
renew that call to honor and reflect. Now and forever,
let us keep faith with our Korean War veterans by
upholding the ideals they fought to protect, and by
supporting them with the care and respect they so
deeply deserve.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim July 27, 2012, as
National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day. I call upon
all Americans to observe this day with appropriate
ceremonies and activities that honor our distinguished
Korean War veterans.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.