The Allied armies, through sacrifice and devotion and with God's help,
have wrung from Germany a final and unconditional surrender. The western
world has been freed of the evil forces which for five years and longer
have imprisoned the bodies and broken the lives of millions upon
millions of free-born men. They have violated their churches, destroyed
their homes, cor- rupted their children, and murdered their loved ones.
Our Armies of Liberation have restored freedom to these suffering
peoples, whose spirit and will the oppressors could never enslave.
Much remains to be done. The victory won in the West must now be won in
the East. The whole world must be cleansed of the evil from which half
the world has been freed. United, the peace-loving nations have
demonstrated in the West that their arms are stronger by far than the
might of dictators or the tyranny of military cliques that once called
us soft and weak. The power of our peoples to defend themselves against
all enemies will be proved in the Pacific was as it has been proved in
Europe.
For the trimuph of spirit and of arms which we have won, and of its
promise to peoples everywhere who join us in the love of freedom, it is
fitting that we, as a nation, give thanks to Almighty God, who has
strengthened us and given us the victory.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of
America, do hereby appoint Sunday, May 13, 1945 to be a day of prayer.
I call upon the people of the United States, whatever their faith, to
unite in offering joyful thanks to God for the victory we have won and
to pray that He will support us to the end of our present struggle and
guide us into the way of peace.
I also call upon my countrymen to dedicate this day of prayer to the
memory of those who have given their lives to make possible our victory.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States of America to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this eighth day of May in the year of our
Lord nineteen hundred and forty-five and of the Independence of the
United States of America the one hundred and sixty-ninth.
[THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA]
By the President:
Harry S. Truman
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