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STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE SIGNING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING THE WORLD WAR II VALOR IN THE PACIFIC NATIONALMONUMENT AND THE PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION IN HONOR OF NATIONAL PEARLHARBOR REMEMBRANCE DAY 2008

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release December 5, 2008

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

AT THE SIGNING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING THE WORLD WAR II VALOR IN THE PACIFIC NATIONAL MONUMENT AND THE PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION IN HONOR OF NATIONAL PEARL HARBOR REMEMBRANCE DAY 2008

Oval Office
10:25 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. I am going to sign two
documents -- one a Pearl Harbor Day proclamation, and the other creating
the World War II Valor in Pacific National Monument. The National
Monument will include nine sites -- five in Hawaii, three in Alaska, and
one in California at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, which was where
Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.

The purpose of the monument is to remind generations of Americans of the
sacrifices that Americans made to protect our country. But there's a
broader purpose, as well, and that is to remind generations of Americans
about the transformative effect of freedom.

One of the great stories during World War II was that people fought
bitterly to defend our country and way of life, and then worked to help
our enemies develop democracies according to their own cultures and
their own history. And today, I am so pleased to report that Japan is a
strong ally of the United States of America -- an ally in defending our
liberties and an ally in spreading liberty as the great ideological
alternative to an enemy that still wants to do us harm.

And so this monument will help people realize the breadth and the
history of World War II and its aftermath.

So I'm pleased to sign both documents, and I want to thank our
distinguished visitors for joining me.

(The proclamations are signed.)

Thank you.