Proclamation 4458—Veterans Day, 1976

America has entered its third century as a Nation whose citizens still are enriched by the priceless blessings of freedom.

None among us has done more to defend and preserve our freedom than the patriotic men and women who answered our country’s call to service and sacrifice, and who today bear the proud title of "veteran."

To provide an occasion for the expression in words of tribute and through appropriate ceremonies our esteem for and gratitude to these courageous, unselfish Americans, the Congress determined (5 U.S.C. 6103 (a)), that one day shall be set aside each year, as a national holiday, to honor our veterans.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, do hereby request that you, my fellow Americans, participate in the observance of Monday, October 25, 1976, as Veterans Day. I deem it most appropriate that in public ceremonies as well as in private thoughts and prayers we gratefully acknowledge the magnificent contribution of our veterans to an America that today remains free and, with the help of God, at peace.

Veterans Day, 1976, can be made especially meaningful for our veterans who are patients in Veterans Administration hospitals by a visit from their relatives, friends and other Americans. Such a visit, however brief, will tell them as no words can that they have not been forgotten.

I ask that Federal, State and local government officials arrange for the display of the flag of the United States on this day, and I ask those government officials to support fully and personally the observance of Veterans Day. Finally, I urge schools, churches, unions, and civic, patriotic and veterans' organizations to participate in appropriate public ceremonies throughout the country.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and first.

GERALD R. FORD