Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2013

Proclamation 8987 of May 24, 2013

Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2013

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Since our Nation's earliest days, America has been
blessed with an unbroken chain of patriots who have
served our country with honor and distinction. From
Concord to the Korengal, generations of brave warriors
have fought for freedom across sand and snow, over mud
and mountains, into lonely deserts and through crowded
streets. Today, we pay tribute to those patriots who
never came back--who fought for a home to which they
never returned, and died for a country whose gratitude
they will always have.

Scripture teaches us that ``greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.'' On Memorial Day, we remember those we have
lost not only for what they fought for, but who they
were: proud Americans, often far too young, guided by
deep and abiding love for their families, for each
other, and for this country. Our debt to them is one we
can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice
and strive to be a Nation equal to their example. On
this and every day, we must meet our obligations to
families of the fallen; we must uphold our sacred trust
with our veterans, our service members, and their loved
ones.

Above all, we can honor those we have lost by living up
to the ideals they died defending. It is our charge to
preserve liberty, to advance justice, and to sow the
seeds of peace. With courage and devotion worthy of the
heroes we remember today, let us rededicate ourselves
to those unending tasks, and prove once more that
America's best days are still ahead. Let us pray the
souls of those who died in war rest in eternal peace,
and let us keep them and their families close in our
hearts, now and forever.

In honor of all of our fallen service members, the
Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950,
as amended (36 U.S.C. 116), has requested the President
issue a proclamation calling on the people of the
United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of
prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on
that day when the people of the United States might
unite in prayer. The Congress, by Public Law 106-579,
has also designated 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as
a time for all Americans to observe, in their own way,
the National Moment of Remembrance.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial
Day, May 27, 2013, as a day of prayer for permanent
peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each
locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite
in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the
National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m.
local time on Memorial Day.

I request the Governors of the United States and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate
officials of all units of government, to direct that
the flag be flown at half-staff until noon on this
Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval
vessels throughout the United States and in all areas
under its jurisdiction and control. I also request the
people of the United States to display the flag at
half-staff from their homes for the customary forenoon
period.

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