May Is National Military Appreciation Month... Or Is It?

At work today, I saw that my company was urging everyone to celebrate National Military Appreciation Month during May, and directed us to the "official" NMAM website. On that website, we find that Parade magazine says this month is National Military Appreciation Month, along with the text of the concurrent resolution from 2003 that urges the President to establish it. (I had to go elsewhere to find out that the resolution actually passed both houses; they passed another one in 2004.) According to the website, May is a good time to have a Military Appreciation Month:

"National Military Appreciation Month (May) includes Loyalty Day (1st), VE Day(8th), Military Spouse Day(12th), Armed Forces Day (20th), and Memorial Day(29th). This very important month honors, remembers, recognizes and appreciates all military personnel; those men and women who have served throughout our history and all who now serve in uniform and their families as well as those Americans who have given their lives in defense of our freedoms we all enjoy today."

Sounds like fun. Still, there seems to be a fly in the ointment -- I can't find any record that President Bush actually ever issued a proclamation to designate May as National Military Appreciation Month (like he did to designate it Older Americans Month, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, and National Physical Fitness and Sports Month). I thought that maybe there might be a law that established this without a Presidential Proclamation every year, but it looks as though while one passed the Senate in 1999, it never was considered the House (and it still required the President to issue a proclamation). Interestingly, I couldn't find any evidence of controversy over this apparent omission. Am I missing something?

Speaking of Loyalty Day (which is today, as designated by Presidential proclamation), a lot of the more "progressive" sites don't like the concept. (Loyalty Day was first established in 1958, obviously in response to Socialists celebrating May Day.) Apparently under the impression that this is a new invention by President Bush, they waste no time deciding that this is further evidence that President Bush is a Nazi. I can't comment on this over at 43rd State Blues, but I did leave a comment at liberal humor site Jesus' General, snarkily pointing out that Loyalty Day proclamations have been issued by every President since Eisenhower:

"It's a known fact that Eisenhower, who issued a clearly unconstitutional signing statement when he proclaimed May 1st as "Loyalty Day" in 1958, met with Nazi generals during WWII. We're lucky that good Democrats like President Clinton stopped the unholy recognition of Loyalty Day."

Anyway, if you feel like being especially appreciative of the military this month even without the Presidential proclamation, the NMAM website has some good ideas.