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Proclamation 6180—National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 1990

September 14, 1990


By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Our Nation owes a lasting debt of gratitude to all those selfless and heroic members of our Armed Forces who have risked their own freedom and safety to defend the lives and liberty of others. On this occasion, as a measure of our thanks and as an expression of our determination to keep faith with those who have so faithfully served and defended us, we remember in a special way those Americans who remain missing and unaccounted for.

In honor of these Americans, on September 21, 1990, the National League of Families POW/MIA flag will be flown over the White House, the U.S. Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System headquarters, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This proudly upheld black and whit emblem symbolizes our firm and united commitment to securing the release of any Americans who may still be held against their will, to obtaining the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and to repatriation of all recoverable American remains.

Our Nation will not forget its POWs/MIAs and the devoted service they have bravely rendered to our country. Neither will we fail to meet our obligation to their families. All Americans recognize the profound suffering of those who continue to await word of their loved ones' fate, and we are determined to help them gain the peace and consolation that word will bring.

The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 467, has designated Friday, September 21, 1990, as "National POW/MIA Recognition Day" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this day. Through Section 2 of this resolution, the Congress has also designated the National League of Families POW/MIA flag as the official symbol of our Nation's commitment to obtaining the fullest possible accounting for those Americans who remain missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 21, 1990, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I urge all Americans to join in honoring former American POWs, as well as those U.S. servicemen and civilians still missing in action. I also encourage the American people to express their gratitude for the extraordinary sacrifices made on behalf of this country by the families of POWs-MIAs. Finally, I call upon State and local officials and private organizations to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifteenth.

Signature of George Bush

GEORGE BUSH

George Bush, Proclamation 6180—National POW/MIA Recognition Day, 1990 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/268339

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