Memorial Day falls on the last Monday of May. It is always a Monday between May 25 and May 31, so the date changes every year.
Year
Date
Days away
2027
218 days
2028
582 days
2029
946 days
2030
1,310 days
2031
1,674 days
When is Memorial Day? The last Monday in May since 1971
Memorial Day is the last Monday of May, the date written into both the federal holiday list in 5 U.S.C. 6103 and the Memorial Day law at 36 U.S.C. 116. Because it always lands on a Monday, it never needs a substitute weekday off the way July 4 or Christmas sometimes does.
The Monday rule is younger than the holiday. From 1868 through 1970, the holiday was held on May 30, whatever the weekday. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act, signed June 28, 1968, moved it to the last Monday starting January 1, 1971, in the same law that put Washington’s Birthday and Veterans Day on Mondays. Veterans Day returned to November 11 in 1978; Memorial Day kept its Monday.
The old date still turns up whenever May 30 is a Monday. That last happened in 2022 and happens next in 2033.
Noon flags and the 3:00 p.m. pause
Federal law sets two times to watch on the day itself:
Time
What happens
Federal law
Until 12:00 noon
The flag flies at half-staff. Hoist it to the peak for an instant, then lower it halfway
4 U.S.C. 7(m)
12:00 noon
The flag goes back up to the top of the staff for the rest of the day
4 U.S.C. 7(m)
3:00 p.m. local time
A one-minute pause, the National Moment of Remembrance
Public Law 106-579 (2000)
The 3:00 p.m. minute follows each community’s own clock, so it reaches Honolulu six hours after New York. Each year the President also issues a proclamation, as 36 U.S.C. 116 asks, calling on Americans to pray for permanent peace at a set time that day.
From Decoration Day to Memorial Day
The holiday began as Decoration Day, a day for placing flowers on the graves of the Civil War dead. On May 5, 1868, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union veterans’ group, issued General Orders No. 11, naming May 30 for it. The Department of Veterans Affairs says the date was chosen so that spring flowers would be in bloom everywhere.
The first national observance came that May 30 at Arlington National Cemetery, where General and Congressman James A. Garfield spoke. About 11,250 Union soldiers and 350 Confederate soldiers were buried there by then. New York became the first state to recognize it officially, in 1873, and the other Union states followed by 1890. When Congress created Labor Day in 1894, the law listed “the thirtieth day of May” among the public holidays already set by law; the Labor Day countdown runs to the first Monday in September.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?
Memorial Day honors military personnel who died in service, particularly in battle or from wounds received in battle. Veterans Day, every November 11, thanks everyone who served honorably, in wartime or peacetime, and is aimed mostly at living veterans.
Why do people wear red poppies on Memorial Day?
The custom comes from "In Flanders Fields," the 1915 poem by John McCrae. The Department of Veterans Affairs notes that poppies for America's war dead belong to Memorial Day, not Veterans Day. Veterans groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and The American Legion hand them out each year.