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[ PROCLAMATION NO. 39, May 28, 1946 ]

DECLARING THURSDAY, THE THIRTIETH DAY OF MAY, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX AS PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN MEMORIAL DAY.

WHEREAS the 30^th day of May is a date heretofore generally celebrated both in the Philippines and in the United States as a day of commemoration of the deeds of men who have fallen in battle;

WHEREAS in the titanic struggle recently ended, Filipino and American soldiers died shoulder to shoulder and were buried in common graves, having fought in a common cause;

WHEREAS the bond of comradeship between Filipino and American fighting men corresponds in symbolic measure to the bond between the United States and the Philippines;

WHEREAS it is eminently fitting that a day of grief for our common dead be observed and properly commemorated; And

WHEREAS between those who have been touched by the white cloak of eternity there exists no barriers of race or creed;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Manuel Roxas, President of the Philippines, do hereby proclaim and enjoin that the 30^th day of May, 1946, be duly observed throughout the Philippines as Philippine-American Memorial Day. I call upon my fellow citizens to visit the graves of their dead and, in the presence of the earth covering the mortal remains of our fallen heroes, pay tribute to the spirit in which their total sacrifice was made. I likewise urge that this said day be observed with prayer in the appropriate churches and with rededication to the unity of Filipinos and Americans in the cause of peace with all the peoples of the earth.

IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Commonwealth of the Philippines to be affixed.

Done at the city of Manila, this 28^th day of May, in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty-six, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the eleventh.

(Sgd.) MANUEL ROXAS

President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) EMILIO ABELLO

Chief of the Executive Office