D-Day National Remembrance Day, 2014

Vol. 79

Tuesday,

No. 111

June 10, 2014

Part IV

The President

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Proclamation 9139--D-Day National Remembrance Day, 2014

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 9139 of June 5, 2014

D-Day National Remembrance Day, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On June 6, 1944, before dawn broke across the beaches
of Normandy, scores of allied service members prepared
to fight a battle that would decide the fate of freedom
in the 20th century. The odds weighed against them.
That year, the Nazis had fortified the Atlantic Wall
against a seaborne invasion, lined the coast with
mines, and planted sharpened poles to await allied
paratroopers. On D-Day, American, British, and Canadian
forces advanced through thickets of barbed wire and
scaled heavily protected cliffs. They braved gales of
bullets and artillery fire, taking heavy losses as they
cut through Nazi defenses. Thousands gave their last
full measure of devotion, and by the end of the day,
the ground on which they died was free once more.

Victory on D-Day dealt a significant blow to an
ideology fueled by hatred. It allowed America and our
allies to secure a foothold in France, open a path to
Berlin, and liberate a continent from the grip of
tyranny. It made possible the achievements that
followed the end of World War II--the Marshall Plan,
the NATO alliance, and the shared prosperity and
security that flowed from each.

Seventy years later, we pay tribute to the service
members who secured a beachhead on an unforgiving
shore--the patriots who, through their courage and
sacrifice, changed the course of an entire century.
Today, as we carry on the struggle for liberty and
universal human rights, let us draw strength from a
moment when free nations beat back the forces of
oppression and gave new hope to the world.

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 June 6, 2014, as D-
Day National Remembrance Day. I call upon all Americans
to observe this day with programs, ceremonies, and
activities that honor those who fought and died so men
and women they had never met might know what it is to
be free.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand
fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.