50 Memorial Day captions to help you reflect and remember (2024)

Each year, on the last Monday in May, we commemorate Memorial Day.

This year, the annual holiday falls on Monday, May 27, and, for many people, it means a three-weekend in which they can relax, take in a movie or invite the neighbors over for a backyard barbecue.

Beyond an extra day off of work, however, Memorial Day is a holiday set aside to recognize and honor fallen military personnel who've given their lives in service to their country.

To pay tribute to those courageous men and women, we've assembled of collection of Memorial Day captions to post on Instagram, Facebook or use however you see fit.

Often referred to as "Decoration Day," the day is a time set aside for loved ones to visit the graves of those lost to leave mementos or flowers in their memory. Officially designated a holiday in 1971, Memorial Day has been observed as far back as 1868, when it was first established in recognition of lives lost to the Civil War.

Now, more than 150 years later, the day of solemn remembrance recognizes servicemen and women lost in all wars. To help honor their memory, you'll find a variety of Memorial Day captions including short sayings, patriotic messages and Memorial Day quotes by presidents, political figures and other luminaries.

Use them in a meaningful post or to help inspire your own sentiments in showing your gratitude for those who've made the ultimate sacrifice for the love of their country and in the name of freedom.

Short Memorial Day captions

• Land of the free, because of the brave.
• The brave may fall, but never yield.
• Stars and stripes forever.
• Mine eyes have seen the glory.
• Let us never forget that freedom isn't free.
• Those we love never truly leave, so long as they live on in our hearts.

• In tribute to the many, in honor of all, we offer our gratitude.
• One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
• Let freedom ring!
• Hand to heart, stars and stripes forever.
• Remembering their courage, honor and bravery, today and every day.

• To our freedom, we owe a debt we can never hope to repay.
• Never forget.
• One day does not seem like enough to thank all those who've sacrificed so much.
• For bravery, courage and valor, we thank you.

Patriotic Memorial Day captions

• Valor. Duty. Honor.
• Thank the brave, who serve on high.
• Integrity first, service before self.
• Give 'em hell!
• Home of the brave.
• To those who've gone before, we thank you for your fighting spirit.

• For answering your nation's call, we honor you.
• Always faithful.
• Forever in peace may you wave.
• For this is my country, land of free and home to the bold.
• Improvise. Adapt. Overcome!

• Born ready.
• These things we do, that others may live.
• Sacrifice: The act of offering something precious.
• Liberty, from sea to shining sea.

Memorial Day quotes to use as captions

• "We owe them a debt we can never repay." – Ronald Reagan
• "It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit." – J.R.R. Tolkien
• "Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms." – Abraham Lincoln
• "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." – Elmer Davis

• "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." – Winston Churchill
• "Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul." – Michel de Montaigne
• "Patriotism means to stand by the country." – Theodore Roosevelt
• "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." – John F. Kennedy

• "As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway; I saw below me that golden valley; This land was made for you and me." – Woody Guthrie
• "Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing." – Emma Donoghue
• "The proudest human that walks the earth is a free American citizen." – Dwight D. Eisenhower
• 'O beautiful for heroes proved, In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life!" "America the Beautiful," – Katharine Lee Bates

• "America without her soldiers would be like God without His angels." – Claudia Pemberton
• “God bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her, And guide her, Through the night with the light from above.” – Irving Berlin, “God Bless America”
• "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." – Nathan Hale
• "How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! – Thomas Jefferson

• "Who kept the faith and fought the fight; the glory theirs, the duty ours." – Wallace Bruce
• "A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." – Joseph Campbell
• "The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage." – Carrie Jones
• "The emblem of the brave and true, Its folds protect no tyrant crew, The red and white and starry blue, Is freedom's shield and hope." – John Philip Sousa, "Stars and Stripes Forever"