Proclamation 6812—National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, 1995

On July 27, 1953, the guns finally fell silent over the Korean peninsula. Three years of fierce struggle, costing over 600,000 lives among U.S. and allied combatants, ended with a negotiated cease-fire at Panmunjom. At that moment, in the midst of the Cold War, facing the burden of containing a hostile communist world, America could not yet see clearly all that the Korean War had achieved.

Time and history have cleared our vision. More than four decades later, we look back in awe and gratitude at what our Armed Forces and allies accomplished in Korea. Under the banner of the United Nations, they fought to defend freedom and human dignity in the Korean peninsula, demonstrating to the world's totalitarian regimes that men and women of goodwill were ready to pay the ultimate price so that others might enjoy the blessings of liberty. They helped the Republic of South Korea grow, survive, and prosper as an independent and democratic nation and a strong friend of the United States. With their quiet courage and stern resolve, American troops sowed the seeds for the triumph of democracy that is sweeping across the globe today.

Now, at long last, we have a fitting memorial to honor the achievements and the sacrifice of our Korean War veterans. From across this country and around the world, these veterans will gather in our Nation's capital to dedicate the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the enduring testament to their valor and generosity of spirit. America honors their service; we remember their sacrifice; and we are forever in their debt.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim July 27, 1995, as "National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day." I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities in honor of our Nation's Korean War veterans.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON