Proclamation 3805—Veterans Day, 1967

We Americans hold freedom as our birthright. We cherish it as the basic condition of our national life.

But we are deeply mindful of its cost.

Our freedom was won in the agony of conflict. Two centuries later, we enjoy its blessings only because men have been willing to risk their lives to preserve it.

Again today, in a complex and bitter war, America's sons must fight in freedom's defense. None before them have fought more bravely, or with greater devotion to America's cause, than those who serve us now in Vietnam.

We can never repay in full the debt we owe to the veterans of this Nation's wars.

Yet we can show our appreciation of their service and sacrifice. Through the G.I. Bill of Rights, we endeavor to ease the serviceman's return to civilian life. As a result of the Veterans' Act of 1967, men in uniform today can receive benefits comparable to those granted their brothers-in-arms of past conflicts.

For almost three decades, it has been a proud American tradition to observe each year a special day of gratitude to all of America's veterans.

To this end the Congress has designated the eleventh of November as a legal holiday to be known as Veterans Day, and has dedicated it to the cause of world peace (Act of May 13, 1938, 52 Stat. 351, as amended (5 U.S.C. 6103)).

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, urge the people of this Nation to join in commemorating Saturday, November 11, 1967, as Veterans Day with suitable observances.

I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on all public buildings on that day; and I request the officials of Federal, State, and local governments, and civic and patriotic organizations to give their enthusiastic leadership and support to appropriate public ceremonies throughout the Nation.

I urge all citizens, and especially students and young people, to take part in these ceremonies. Let us demonstrate to all the world our devotion to the principles of freedom for which so many have served in the past, and pledge our full support of those who today carry on the battle to insure that freedom shall survive.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-second.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON