Across the United States and its territories this Memorial Day, May 29, 2017, the centennial anniversary of America’s entry into World War I will be commemorated, according to a Proclamation issued by President Donald J. Trump. He calls for the day to be a Day of Prayer for Permanent Peace. In commemoration, the Hopkins County Marine Corps League will lower flags to half-staff until noon at the Veteran’s Memorial at Celebration Plaza in Sulphur Springs. In the Presidential Proclamation citizens are also asked to fly the flag at half-staff at their homes until the noon hour.
In World War I, more than 4.7million Americans served representing more than 25% of the American male population between the ages of 18 and 31 at the time. “We remember the more than 100,000 Americans who sacrificed their lives during ‘The War to End All Wars’ and who left behind countless family members and loved ones,” states the Proclamation.
On Memorial Day, the final resting places of the more than one million men and women who sacrificed their lives for our nation are decorated with the American Flag as generations have done since 1868.
In 1950, congress issued a joint resolution requesting 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 the period on that day when the people of the United States might unite in prayer.
