Making Memorial Day Meaningful in 2026
Memorial Day falls on the last Monday of May every year. Flags are lowered to half-staff at sunrise and raised again at noon. A moment of silence falls at 3:00 p.m. local time. Parades march through city streets. And then, almost imperceptibly, the holiday becomes a long weekend — a time for cookouts, road trips, and retail sales. But the day deserves more from us. It deserves remembrance.
Today, Monday, May 25, 2026, marks the 55th official Memorial Day since Congress designated the last Monday in May as a national observance in 1971. But its roots stretch back to 1868, when Major General John A. Logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance to strew flowers on the graves of those who fell in the Civil War. He named it Decoration Day. The tradition endures because the sacrifice it honors is permanent.
What Memorial Day Actually Means
Memorial Day is not Veterans Day. That distinction matters. Veterans Day, observed each November 11, honors all who have served — living and deceased. Memorial Day is reserved exclusively for those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is a day of mourning, not merely appreciation. Some veterans find it dismaying when they are thanked on Memorial Day — the intended honorees gave their lives and can no longer receive our thanks.
That narrow, solemn purpose makes the holiday uniquely important. It asks us to sit with loss — to feel, however briefly, the weight of the sacrifice that underwrites our freedom.
Five Ways to Observe Memorial Day Meaningfully
Below are five concrete actions any American can take today to honor the day's true purpose:
• Visit a national cemetery or local veterans' memorial. Bring flowers. Sit quietly for a few minutes. The National Cemetery Administration maintains 155 national cemeteries across the country.
• Observe the National Moment of Remembrance at 3:00 p.m. local time. A simple pause — wherever you are — connects you to millions of Americans honoring the same fallen.
• Reach out to a Gold Star family. The Gold Star Families Memorial Foundation connects communities with families who have lost a service member. A card, a phone call, or a meal is a tangible act of remembrance.
• Wear a red poppy. The tradition originates in Lt. Col. John McCrae's 1915 poem "In Flanders Fields," written in honor of those who died in World War I. The American Legion distributes poppies each year.
• Donate to a veterans' service organization. The Wounded Warrior Project, the VFW National Home, and the Fisher House Foundation provide direct support to surviving service members and their families.
A Workers' Compensation Perspective: The Invisible Wounds
As a workers' compensation attorney, I am reminded each Memorial Day that the injuries sustained in military service often follow veterans home, and frequently go uncompensated, unacknowledged, or unaddressed. The physical wounds are visible. The occupational diseases and psychological injuries are not.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is among the most prevalent disabling conditions suffered by returning service members and, increasingly, by the first responders who answer the calls civilians never see. Courts have grappled with whether PTSD constitutes an accidental injury or an occupational disease, a distinction that carries significant procedural and financial consequences for injured workers.
In the landmark New Jersey decision Brunell v. Wildwood Crest Police Department, 176 N.J. 225 (2003), the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that PTSD may qualify as either an accidental injury or an occupational disease — and that when the facts of a case straddle both categories, a worker is entitled to file claims under both. The court further recognized that the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the worker knows, or should know, that a compensable injury has occurred. This latent discovery rule is critically important for veterans and first responders whose psychological injuries may take years to manifest fully.
Maryland reached a parallel conclusion in Means v. Baltimore County, 344 Md. 661 (1997), where the state's highest court held that PTSD unaccompanied by physical injury can nonetheless be compensable as an occupational disease under the workers' compensation act. These decisions collectively affirm that psychological wounds sustained in service — whether military or civilian — deserve the same legal recognition as broken bones.
At the federal level, the Department of Veterans Affairs administers a separate but related system for service-connected disabilities, including PTSD. The VA has provided disability benefits for PTSD since the 1980s, following its formal inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. As of 2016, approximately 888,000 veterans were receiving benefits for service-connected PTSD. The legal landscape governing these benefits is complex, litigated, and continually evolving. Families navigating the claims process are encouraged to seek accredited representation; the VFW's National Veterans Service reports that it recoups more than $10 billion in earned benefits annually on behalf of the veterans it represents.
New Jersey: Where Workers' Compensation and Veterans' Benefits Intersect
New Jersey maintains a robust framework of state-level veteran benefits that interact with, but do not replace, the workers' compensation system. New Jersey National Guard service members serving on state active duty who suffer injury, disease, disability, or death in the line of duty are eligible for compensation and benefits under New Jersey Workmen's Compensation laws pursuant to N.J. Rev. Stat. Title 34. This is a critical and often-overlooked provision: Guard members activated for state duty, responding to hurricanes, civil emergencies, or public health crises, are covered under the same system that protects factory workers and office employees.
New Jersey also provides the Wounded Warrior Caregivers Relief Act, offering a tax credit to family caregivers supporting a service member with a disability from service after September 11, 2001. The intersection of state tax law, workers' compensation, and VA disability benefits creates a web of rights that too many veterans and their families never fully access.
On this Memorial Day, I urge New Jersey families of fallen and disabled veterans to consult with an accredited representative about the full range of benefits available to them. No veteran or Gold Star family should leave earned compensation on the table.
Remember. Honor. Act.
Memorial Day is not merely a day off. It is an annual national obligation — a promise extracted by the sacrifices of the fallen that we will remember why they fell. In 2026, with global uncertainty rising and the cost of service at an all-time high, that promise matters more, not less.
Take three minutes today. Pause at 3:00 p.m. Think of someone who gave everything. And then, if you can, translate that moment of remembrance into something lasting: a donation, a visit, a call, an advocacy for the living veterans still waiting for the benefits they earned.
Freedom is not free. It never was. Today, we remember the price.
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Related Information
History.com — Memorial Day History: history.com/articles/memorial-day-history
The Old Farmer's Almanac — When Is Memorial Day 2026: almanac.com/content/when-memorial-day
Wounded Warrior Project — What is Memorial Day: newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org
Warrior Allegiance — Memorial Day 2026 Meaning and How to Honor It: warriorallegiance.com
CourtListener — Brunell v. Wildwood Crest Police Dept., 176 N.J. 225 (2003): courtlistener.com/opinion/2346588
CourtListener — Means v. Baltimore County, 344 Md. 661 (1997): courtlistener.com/opinion/2310836
Wikipedia — Veterans Benefits for PTSD in the United States: wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_benefits_PTSD
U.S. Army Benefits — NJ Military and Veterans Benefits (Workers' Compensation): myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/NJ
VFW New Jersey — VA Claims and Separation Benefits: vfwnj.org
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law — PTSD Workers' Compensation (Chrz v. Mower County): jaapl.org/content/52/1/114
About the Author
Jon L. Gelman is a workers' compensation attorney in Wayne, New Jersey, and the author of 38-39A N.J. Prac., Workers' Compensation Law (3d ed., Thomson Reuters/West) and co-author of the national treatise Modern Workers' Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters). He has represented injured workers and their families for more than four decades. He can be reached at workers-compensation.blogspot.com and jongelman.substack.com.
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