President Bush with a Memorial Day Greetings...

MEMORANDUM FOR ALL COMMERCE EMPLOYEES

From: Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez

Subject: Memorial Day 2005


On Monday May 30, we will celebrate Memorial Day and honor the memory of all members of the Armed Services who lost their lives defending and protecting the freedoms we enjoy and cherish as Americans. Each of the men and women who gave their lives was someone’s child, someone’s friend, possibly someone’s parent, and each remains a valued son or daughter of America. I ask each of you to take time this Memorial Day to remember the courageous and often times difficult service to our country by our fighting men and women, and to give thanks for how their dedication and sacrifice have preserved and protected our great Nation.

I am now honored to share with you President Bush’s Memorial Day proclamation.


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Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2005

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

On Memorial Day, we honor the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in service to our Nation. When the stakes were highest, our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen answered the call of duty and made the ultimate sacrifice for the security of our country and the peace of the world.

Throughout our Nation's history, members of the Armed Forces have taken great risks to keep America strong and free. These proud patriots have defended the innocent, freed the oppressed, and helped spread the promise of liberty to all corners of the earth. In serving our Nation, they have been unrelenting in battle, unwavering in loyalty, and unmatched in decency. Because of their selfless courage, millions of people who once lived under tyranny now are free, and America is more secure.

On Memorial Day, we remember that this history of great achievement has been accompanied by great sacrifice. To secure our freedom, many heroic service members have given their lives. This year we mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, and we remember the Americans who died on distant shores defending our Nation in that war. On Memorial Day and all year long, we pray for the families of the fallen and show our respect for the contributions these men and women have made to the story of freedom. Our grateful Nation honors their selfless service, and we acknowledge a debt that is beyond our power to repay.

In respect for their devotion to America, the Congress, by a joint resolution approved on May 11, 1950, as amended (64 Stat. 158), has requested the President to issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace and designating a period on that day when the people of the United States might unite in prayer. The Congress, by Public Law 106 579, has also designated the minute beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as a time for all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 30, 2005, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer. I also ask all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance beginning at 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. I urge the media to participate in these observances.

I also request the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half staff until noon on this Memorial Day on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States, and in all areas under its jurisdiction and control. I also request the people of the United States to display the flag at half-staff from their homes for the customary forenoon period.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty ninth.

GEORGE W. BUSH

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"The Captain" by Alfred Lord Tennyson

THE CAPTAIN

A LEGEND OF THE NAVY

He that only rules by terror
Doeth grievous wrong.
Deep as hell I count his error.
Let him hear my song.
Brave the Captain was; the seamen
Made a gallant crew,
Gallant sons of English freemen,
Sailors bold and true.
But they hated his oppression;
Stern he was and rash,
So for every light transgression
Doom’d them to the lash.
Day by day more harsh and cruel
Seem’d the Captain’s mood.
Secret wrath like smother’d fuel
Burnt in each man’s blood.
Yet he hoped to purchase glory,
Hoped to make the name
Of his vessel great in story,
Wheresoe’er he came.
So they past by capes and islands,
Many a harbor-mouth,
Sailing under palmy highlands
Far within the South.
On a day when they were going
O’er the lone expanse,
In the north, her canvas flowing,
Rose a ship of France.
Then the Captain’s color heighten’d,
Joyful came his speech;
But a cloudy gladness lighten’d
In the eyes of each.
‘Chase,’ he said; the ship flew forward,
And the wind did blow;
Stately, lightly, went she norward,
Till she near’d the foe.
Then they look’d at him they hated,
Had what they desired;
Mute with folded arms they waited–
Not a gun was fired.
But they heard the foeman’s thunder
Roaring out their doom;
All the air was torn in sunder,
Crashing went the boom,
Spars were splinter’d, decks were shatter’d,
Bullets fell like rain;
Over mast and deck were scatter’d
Blood and brains of men.
Spars were splinter’d; decks were broken;
Every mother’s son–
Down they dropt–no word was spoken–
Each beside his gun.
On the decks as they were lying,
Were their faces grim.
In their blood, as they lay dying,
Did they smile on him.
Those in whom he had reliance
For his noble name
With one smile of still defiance
Sold him unto shame.
Shame and wrath his heart confounded,
Pale he turn’d and red,
Till himself was deadly wounded
Falling on the dead.
Dismal error! fearful slaughter!
Years have wander’d by;
Side by side beneath the water
Crew and Captain lie;
There the sunlit ocean tosses
O’er them mouldering,
And the lonely seabird crosses
With one waft of the wing.