A Memorial Day Proclamation

Editor’s note: To commemorate our fallen heroes, we are taking the day off to be with family and friends. Instead of our usual lineup of editorials, op-eds, and news links, we offer this Memorial Day Proclamation offered by President Ronald Reagan in May 1986.

Memorial Day is an occasion of special importance to all Americans, because it is a day sacred to the memory of all those Americans who made the supreme sacrifice for the liberties we enjoy.

We will never forget or fail to honor these heroes to whom we owe so much. We honor them best when we resolve to cherish and defend the liberties for which they gave their lives.

Let us resolve to do all in our power to assure the survival and the success of liberty so that our children and their children for generations to come can live in an America in which freedom’s light continues to shine.

The Congress, in establishing Memorial Day, called for it to be a day of tribute to America’s fallen, and also a day of national prayer for lasting peace. This nation has always sought true peace. We seek it still. Our goal is peace in which the highest aspirations of our people, and people everywhere, are secure: peace with freedom, with justice, and with opportunity for human development. This is the permanent peace for which we pray, not only for ourselves but for all generations.

The defense of peace, like the defense of liberty, requires more than lip service. It requires vigilance, military strength, and the willingness to take risks and to make sacrifices. The surest guarantor of both peace and liberty is our unflinching resolve to defend that which has been purchased for us by our fallen heroes.

On Memorial Day, let us pray for peace – not only for ourselves, but for all those who seek freedom and justice.

I hope it is not inappropriate for me add a persnal rememberance of my uncle, Master Sergeant Roy Vizuete. My uncle was a highly decorated carreer military man. He served in both WW II and the Korean War. Born in a small village in Spain, he fell in love with his adopted country and considered it an honor and privilege to serve America. He was taken prisoner in both wars and earned 2 Purple Hearts, numerous campaign medals and 2 Bronze medals for valor. At some point, he became an American citizen, which was the proudest day of his life. Early in the Korean War on a day in January of 1950, he was taken prisoner by the North Koreans and was eventually murdered by a Korean guard on October 31,1950. That date was the day I was born. My family had no body to bury and no remains have ever been found. He was so looking forward to my birth. My dad was his youngest brother and they were very close. I never met pmy uncle Roy but I will meet him in heaven on some fine day. Until I do, I have vowed to recall his supreme sacrifice and thank God such man was born. May those who have lost loved ones find comfort and peace and take pride that these men and women are forever remembered.

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