Honoring the Victims of the Explosion in West, Texas - Historical Half-Staff Archive

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

A tribute focused on Texas

President Obama signed Proclamation 8963 on April 24, 2013, to honor those who died in the explosion in West, Texas, one week earlier. The flag order is short, but its geographical wording matters: it names federal locations within Texas. Readers should not interpret this document as a nationwide half-staff order.

The proclamation offers a gesture of remembrance rather than an account of the explosion or its causes. The full text below lets readers see precisely whom the tribute honors and where the flag instruction applies.

What the order covers

The directive calls for the United States flag to be flown at half-staff on April 25, 2013, at all public buildings and grounds and all military facilities and naval stations of the Federal Government in Texas. It does not specify numerical start or end times. It also does not establish an annual observance or extend its wording to every private property in the state.

April 17 is the date of the tragedy, April 24 is the formal proclamation date, April 25 is the designated observance, and April 29 is the Federal Register publication date. This archive uses April 24 as its post date, preserving the distinction between the document and its later publication. The observance has ended.

Full official proclamation text

Proclamation 8963 of April 24, 2013 — Honoring the Victims of the Explosion in West, Texas
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

As a mark of respect for the memory of those who perished in the explosion in West, Texas, on April 17, 2013, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at all public buildings and grounds and at all military facilities and naval stations of the Federal Government in the State of Texas on April 25, 2013.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

Official federal proclamation text from Federal Register page 25179. 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

Browse related historical notices 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

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