It started in a cemetery after the Civil War. It took a century to become a federal holiday. Now it’s the last Monday in May, and at 3 p.m., the whole country is asked to stop.
Memorial Day is Monday, May 25, 2026. It is a federal holiday, the last Monday in May, and the day the United States sets aside to honor the military personnel who died in service to this country. Not veterans broadly. Not currently serving troops. The fallen, specifically — the more than 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation's wars since the American Revolution.
Most Americans know that much. Fewer know where the day came from, why it falls when it does, or that a specific national moment of observance is built into the afternoon that most people have never heard of.
...At 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, pause for one minute of silence wherever you are — at home, at a barbecue, on the road.
On Memorial Day, MLB games halt. Amtrak train whistles sound across the country. Hundreds of organizations nationwide pause in observance.
The time of 3 p.m. was chosen because it is when most Americans are enjoying the holiday. The Moment does not replace other Memorial Day events. It takes one minute.
In December 2000, Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act, establishing the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance and designating 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day as a moment of national silence. The act called on all Americans to pause wherever they are for one minute to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. It was designed to reach people in their backyards, at their picnics, on their road trips — not only those who had already made it to a cemetery or a parade.
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