Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

This is an archive of prayers composed for or relevant to Memorial Day in the United States, commemorated on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is the day previously known as Decoration Day. The first national observance of Decoration Day occurred on 30 May 1868 after having been proclaimed by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the Civil War. In 1971, Congress changed its observance to the last Monday in May and officially renamed the day “Memorial Day,” a day of remembrance for all members of the U.S. military who fought and died in service.
If you have composed a prayer or prayer-poem for Memorial Day, please share it here.
Looking for something else?
For public readings selected for Memorial Day in the United States, please visit here.
For prayers offered for the well-being of Military Personnel & Veterans, including the Israeli Defense Forces (צה״ל), please visit here.
For prayers composed for, or relevant to, Armistice/Veterans Day in the United States, go here.
For an archive of special readings for the Armistice/Veterans Day, go here.

Memorial Day Prayer at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff on 31 May 2021

Contributor(s):

Arnold E. Resnicoff

Categories:

Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May)

Tags:

English vernacular prayer, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

Invocation for a Memorial Day ceremony at the Washington DC Vietnam War Veterans Memorial. . . .

A Prayer for Remembrance and Peace on Memorial Day, by David Abernethy

Contributor(s):

David Abernethy

Categories:

Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May)

Tags:

United States, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, civic prayers, American Jewry of the United States

A prayer for the observance of Memorial Day in the United States. . . .

Memorial Day Prayer at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff on 25 May 2020

Contributor(s):

Arnold E. Resnicoff

Categories:

Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Invocation for a virtual Memorial Day ceremony at the Washington DC Vietnam War Veterans Memorial. . . .

Memorial Day Prayer at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff on 28 May 2018

Contributor(s):

Arnold E. Resnicoff

Categories:

Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May), United States of America

Tags:

Decoration Day, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Vietnam Veterans Memorial

A prayer offered by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff at the Vietnam War Memorial on Memorial Day May 28th 2018. . . .

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Stephen Roth on 29 May 2014

Contributor(s):

United States Congressional Record and Stephen Roth

Categories:

Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies, Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May), United States of America

Tags:

Prayers of Guest Chaplains, 113th Congress, Memorial Day, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 29 May 2014. . . .

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld on 23 May 2014

Contributor(s):

United States Congressional Record and Shmuel Herzfeld

Categories:

Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies, Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May), United States of America

Tags:

Prayers of Guest Chaplains, 113th Congress, Memorial Day, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 23 May 2014. . . .

[Prayer for] Memorial Day, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1954)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Avraham Samuel Soltes

Categories:

Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May)

Tags:

anti-communist, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., North American Jewry, English vernacular prayer, anti-fascist

A prayer for Memorial Day in the United States, composed in 1954. . . .

Prayer for the United States during the Cold War, by Julius Klein (Jewish War Veterans of the USA, 1951)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Julius Klein and Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America

Categories:

Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May), United States of America

Tags:

20th century C.E., United States, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Cold War (1947–1953), United States in the Korean War

This prayer by Brigadier General Julius Klein was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), p. 47. The anthology notes that “Accompanying the prayer of General Klein, National Commander of Jewish War Veterans, U.S.A., is this message: ‘I wish to express the deep-seated conviction that this book of prayers will be warmly received by a world which is very much in need of closer contact with God.’” . . .