Memorial Day and Veterans Day Honor U.S. Service Members in Different Ways

Memorial Day and Veterans Day are similar but different holidays. Memorial Day honors the sacrifices of American service members who gave their lives for our country. Veterans Day honors past and present service members. Although Memorial Day and Veterans Day both honor military service members, the holidays are different.

Some see Memorial Day as the official start of summer and Veterans Day as the end of summer, but it's important to remember that both holidays are about more than just picnics, parades, and a day off work. They serve as days to remember past and present service members for their sacrifices.

Memorial Day has been celebrated in the U.S. since 1868. Always held on the last Monday in May, the day is meant to remember and honor service members who gave their lives.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the holiday was originally "Decoration Day." The day was formalized by a "Memorial Day Order" by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868. The current order asks Americans "to observe Memorial Day by praying, according to their individual religious faith, for permanent peace."

One Memorial Day tradition is soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, aka "The Old Guard," honoring the fallen by placing small American flags at the graves of service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery.

Other regular celebrations include Memorial Day parades, the longest-running being The Doylestown Memorial Day Parade, which began in 1868, the year of the first Memorial Day.

A much louder annual celebration is the Rolling to Remember parade, better known as Rolling Thunder. 2024 marks the 36th consecutive year of the gathering of patriotic cyclists from across the country heading to Washington, D.C. to ride and demand the accounting of U.S. POWs and MIAs and raise awareness of the mental health issues hundreds of thousands of veterans live with.

In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 to be Armistice Day, later known as Veterans Day. Marking the occasion, he said, “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”

There was hope that World War I, then just known as The Great War, was “the war to end all wars.” When the Allied nations and Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles fighting had been halted seven months prior due to an armistice, hence the initial name of the holiday. That armistice went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, which is why Veterans Day is still celebrated on November 11.

Memorial Day is always on the last Monday in May and Veterans Day is always on November 11. While both holidays honor military service members, Memorial Day honors those who died for our freedoms. Veterans Day honors all military service members, past and present. Memorial Day allows people to honor the fallen, while Veterans Day allows people to thank service members, both active and retired.