Ohio and Pennsylvania have ordered flags lowered for Memorial Day, with Gov. Mike DeWine directing the United States and state flags to fly at half-staff on public buildings and grounds across Ohio on May 25, and Gov. Josh Shapiro issuing a similar order for Commonwealth and U.S. flags across Pennsylvania.
In Ohio, the order runs from 12:01 a.m. until noon on May 25, 2026. In Pennsylvania, flags are to be lowered starting at sunrise on Monday and returned to full-staff at 12 p.m. on the same day, when observances around Memorial Day are underway. Memorial Day falls on May 26 this year, the last Monday in May, and is a day of reflection and remembrance for those who died while serving in the U.S. military, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Shapiro framed the order in personal terms. “On this Memorial Day, we remember and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending and protecting our freedoms and our nation,” he said. He added that he and his wife, Lori, are “eternally grateful to those who have put on the uniform and given their lives for our country – and to the families and loved ones they’ve left behind,” and closed by saying, “On behalf of a grateful Commonwealth, may their memories be a blessing.”
The timing matters because Memorial Day observances are built around a national pause, including the National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m., when Americans are encouraged to observe a minute of silence. The holiday’s roots stretch back to the Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 service members between 1861 and 1865, and to early commemorations in places such as Waterloo, New York, on May 5, 1866, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, in October 1864, and the first national observance of Decoration Day on May 30, 1868. One early gathering, on May 1, 1865, drew as many as 10,000 people in Charleston, South Carolina, where 267 Union troops buried in a mass grave had died at a Confederate prison and were later reburied in individual graves by members of Black churches.
The orders from DeWine and Shapiro follow a familiar pattern: governors can direct flags to half-staff on land, while half-mast is the nautical term. This year’s observance lands as Americans again balance ceremony with the holiday’s original purpose — honoring the dead, not simply marking the start of summer.
