Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2012 - Historical Half-Staff Archive

Historical notice: this observance has ended. This independent FORTISVEX resource preserves a past presidential proclamation; it is not a government notice.

Lives remembered across generations

President Obama's 2012 Memorial Day proclamation described military sacrifice as a story carried across generations. It remembered the people who gave their lives in service, the families who loved them, and the freedoms their service helped protect.

The document moved from the nation's earliest struggles through later conflicts, emphasizing the common legacy connecting people whose experiences were different. Its call for prayer joined remembrance of the dead with concern for those still serving and a hope for lasting peace.

The morning flag observance and afternoon remembrance

For Memorial Day on May 28, 2012, the proclamation requested half-staff display until noon on buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States and areas under its jurisdiction and control. It addressed governors and appropriate government officials and also requested the customary forenoon display at homes.

The prayer hour began at 11:00 a.m. in each locality. Separately, the National Moment of Remembrance began at 3:00 p.m. local time. The afternoon remembrance did not extend the morning half-staff period. No numerical starting time for half-staff display appears in the document.

The proclamation cites the congressional measures behind the annual prayer and remembrance observances. Its formal date is May 25, while the observance took place on May 28 and the Federal Register published the document on June 1. This article uses the formal date for the archive record.

Full official proclamation text

Proclamation 8831 of May 25, 2012 — Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2012
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Our Nation endures and thrives because of the devotion of our men and women in uniform, who, from generation to generation, carry a burden heavier than any we may ever know. On Memorial Day, we honor those who have borne conflict’s greatest cost, mourn where the wounds of war are fresh, and pray for a just, lasting peace.

The American fabric is stitched with the stories of sons and daughters who gave their lives in service to the country they loved. They were patriots who overthrew an empire and sparked revolution. They were courageous men and women who strained to hold a young Union together. They were ordinary citizens who rolled back the creeping tide of tyranny, who stood post through a long twilight struggle, who saw terror and extremism threaten our world’s security and said, ‘‘I’ll go.’’ And though their stories are unique to the challenges they faced, our fallen service members are forever bound by a legacy of valor older than the Republic itself. Now they lay at rest in quiet corners of our country and the world, but they live on in the families who loved them and in the soul of a Nation that is safer for their service.

Today, we join together in prayer for the fallen. We remember all who have borne the battle, whose devotion to duty has sustained our country and kept safe our heritage as a free people in a free society. Though our hearts ache in their absence, we find comfort in knowing that their legacy lives on in all of us—in the security that lets us live in peace, the prosperity that allows us to pursue our dreams, and the love that still beats in those who knew them. May God bless the souls of the venerable warriors we have lost, and may He watch over the men and women who serve us now. Today, tomorrow, and in perpetuity, let us give thanks to them by remaining true to the values and virtues for which they fight.

In honor of all of our fallen service members, the Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950, as amended (36 U.S.C. 116), has requested the President 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 3:00 p.m. local time on that day as a time for all Americans to observe, in their own way, the National Moment of Remembrance.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 28, 2012, 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 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 twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

Official federal proclamation text from Federal Register pages 32879–32880. Page headings and line wrapping are omitted for readability; the signature is represented by the name above.

Verify the official documents

Read or download the official proclamation PDF from GovInfo · Read the Federal Register record

Find related historical directives in the Presidential Half-Staff Archive.

Signature page from the official published proclamation

Select the published page to open the official PDF.

Preparing a remembrance display

Explore U.S. flags at FORTISVEX when choosing a flag for your location. Review the specific product's material, size, and attachment details for a suitable display.