Memorial Day Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword for Memorial Day: the flag at half-staff, the poppy, Taps and the day's history.

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Memorial Day Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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  • Cemetery
  • Flag
  • Half-staff
  • Hero
  • Monday
  • Noon
  • Parade
  • Poppy
  • Remembrance
  • Salute
  • Taps
  • Wreath

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Answer key: Memorial Day Crossword

1P2SALUTER3TAPS4WD5H6C7RE8MEMBRANCEEOLM9PA10NOONF11HEROTDSTPHATEPY12FLAGRYFYF

Across 2 SALUTE · 3 TAPS · 7 REMEMBRANCE · 10 NOON · 11 HERO · 12 FLAG

Down 1 PARADE · 4 WREATH · 5 HALFSTAFF · 6 CEMETERY · 8 MONDAY · 9 POPPY

Next step Print the Flag Day word searchFind Memorial Day words in a word search

All 101 clues

Show all clues and answers

Decoration Day to Memorial Day 18

  • Annual Like a custom that returns every May
  • Bloom Late May was reportedly picked so blossoms would be in full ___
  • Civil ___ War: the 1860s conflict that led to the holiday
  • Congress Its act made Memorial Day a national holiday in 1971
  • Decoration ___ Day: the holiday's first name
  • Flowers Lilacs and roses, for example; the holiday began with laying them
  • Garfield General, later president, who spoke at the 1868 gathering
  • Logan General whose 1868 call began the yearly day
  • Monday Weekday of Memorial Day since 1971
  • Observe To keep a holiday in the customary way
  • Order General ___ No. 11: the 1868 paper that set the day
  • Speech Address given from a platform at a public gathering
  • Spring Season in which Memorial Day falls
  • Summer Pools open soon after the holiday, as this begins
  • Thirty Date in May that the general's 1868 call named for the day
  • Union Side of the 1860s war whose former soldiers began the national day
  • Waterloo New York community honored in 1966 as the place the holiday began
  • Weekend Since 1971 the holiday has been part of a long one

Honor and Remembrance 21

  • Comfort What friends bring to someone who is grieving
  • Courage Strength to face danger
  • Duty An obligation; a soldier at a post is said to be on it
  • Freedom Being free: the cause for which the day's honored dead served
  • Gratitude Thankfulness, the feeling behind a thank-you
  • Hero Someone who risks everything to save others
  • Loss What a household feels when a place at the table stays empty
  • Memory "In loving ___": words often carved in stone
  • Minute Length of the quiet moment asked of Americans that afternoon
  • Mourn To grieve, as a town does together at the graveside
  • Nation The whole country, which pauses as one that afternoon
  • Peace The opposite of war
  • Proud Pleased and honored, like a town that turns out for its own
  • Reflect To look back in thought, as people do at a graveside
  • Remembrance The National Moment of ___ comes at 3 in the afternoon
  • Sacrifice The "supreme" one is the giving of a life
  • Silence What falls over a crowd during a moment of respect
  • Solemn Grave and dignified, like slow drumbeats
  • Three Afternoon hour, local time, of the holiday's nationwide pause
  • Tribute A song, a bouquet or kind words offered in someone's honor
  • Valor Fearlessness under fire

Flag, Poppy and Bugle 26

  • Anthem Song for which a crowd stands and removes its caps
  • Band Group of drummers and horn players in step
  • Bell It tolls slowly, once for each name read out
  • Briskly Quickly: the way the colors are hoisted at midday
  • Bugle A lone player sounds the last call on this horn
  • Candle Small flame lit for someone who has died
  • Ceremony Program of speakers and music, with everyone standing
  • Drum It rolls softly as the names are read
  • Flag It flies low until midday, then high
  • Flanders "In ___ Fields": rondeau of 1915 by a physician from Ontario
  • Fold What an honor detail does, crisply, to the colors after a burial
  • Half-staff Where the Stars and Stripes flies that morning
  • March To walk in step, or a piece of music to walk in step to
  • Noon Hour when the colors go to the top that day
  • Parade Scouts and a brass section pass by in one
  • Pledge "I ___ allegiance": words that open a daily classroom recitation
  • Pole Tall post on the school lawn, with a rope and pulley
  • Poppy Red blossom worn to recall the fallen
  • Raise To hoist up high
  • Salute Flat hand snapped to the brim of the cap
  • Sunrise On Memorial Day the colors go up, then partway down, at this time
  • Sunset Time of day when the colors come down for the night
  • Taps Lights-out call of 24 tones, shaped in July 1862
  • Triangle Shape of the Stars and Stripes when an honor detail is done
  • Volley Shots fired together by a rifle party as a graveside honor
  • Wreath Ring of blossoms and greenery laid at a grave

Cemeteries and Memorials 16

  • Arlington Hillside grounds near Washington with some 400,000 graves
  • Capitol A free Memorial Day concert is held each year on its West Lawn
  • Cemetery Quiet grounds where many towns hold the service
  • Eternal ___ flame: a fire that is never allowed to go out
  • Gettysburg Pennsylvania town whose national burial ground dates from 1863
  • Guard The Old ___: regiment on watch at the hilltop memorial since 1948
  • Headstone White upright marker, one of thousands in even rows
  • Marble Colorado quarry rock of the famous Virginia hilltop memorial
  • Monument The obelisk on the town green, for example
  • Normandy Part of France where more than 9,000 Americans lie above Omaha Beach
  • Overseas In other lands: 26 American military burial grounds are kept there
  • Sentinel Watcher at a post; the famous hilltop ones never leave it
  • Tomb Watched white stone resting place of unidentified Americans
  • Twenty-one Steps paced on the mat at the famous hilltop post before each turn
  • Unknown Not identified: a word in the name of the watched resting place
  • Wall "The ___": black granite memorial with more than 58,000 names

Those Who Served 20

  • Airman One who serves in the force with jets and bombers
  • Armed ___ Forces Day falls on the third Saturday of May
  • Army Service of infantry and tanks, begun in 1775
  • Deploy To send military units to where they are needed
  • Dog tag Small ID plate on a neck chain, stamped with a name
  • Gold ___ Star: emblem of a household that has lost a member in uniform
  • Homecoming Banners, hugs and tears at the airport after months away
  • Letter Mail from home, treasured by those serving far away
  • Marine Member of the Corps that serves on land and at sea
  • Medal A Bronze Star, for example, worn on the chest
  • Missing ___ man: a table setting or flight formation for someone absent
  • Navy The sea service; its officers include admirals
  • Oath Words sworn, right hand up, on the first day in uniform
  • Purple ___ Heart: award for those wounded or killed in action
  • Rank Private, sergeant or captain, for example
  • Recruit Newcomer at boot camp
  • Sailor One who serves aboard a ship
  • Six How many military services the United States has today
  • Troops Men and women in the field, taken together
  • Veteran Grandparent who once wore the uniform, for example

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site in five sets: the history of the day, honor and remembrance, the flag, the poppy and Taps, cemeteries and memorials, and those who served. Dates and customs were checked against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and against pages of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (va.gov) and Arlington National Cemetery (arlingtoncemetery.mil), in October 2026. No clue names a battle's losses. Licence: own work

How it works

This Memorial Day crossword puzzle is printable on Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 words with a word bank, among them Remembrance, Half-staff, Poppy, Parade, Cemetery, Wreath and Monday, the day of the week the holiday always falls on.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the basics

Decoration Day to Memorial Day has Logan, Waterloo, Thirty and Garfield. Honor and Remembrance has Sacrifice, Valor, Tribute and Solemn. Flag, Poppy and Bugle has Sunrise, Briskly, Flanders and Volley. Cemeteries and Memorials has Arlington, Sentinel, Normandy and Gettysburg. Those Who Served has Veteran, Purple, Gold and Dog tag.

Customs a class can check

The flag flies at half-staff until noon, then at the top of the staff until sunset. The National Moment of Remembrance is one minute at 3 p.m. local time. Taps has 24 notes. All of these are clues.

Questions and answers

Is there a Memorial Day crossword puzzle for kids, printable with a word bank?

Yes. Memorial Day Basics, for grades 3 to 5, opens with a word bank, and its clues are short: Parade, Flag, Hero, Salute. The five themed sets suit grades 5 to 8. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Are the Memorial Day crossword puzzles printable with an answer key?

Yes. Every puzzle prints with its answer key last, on a sheet of its own. Printing is free, with no sign-up, and New puzzle draws another from the same set.

When is Memorial Day?

The last Monday in May. From 1868 to 1970 it was kept on May 30; a law that took effect in 1971 moved it to make a three-day weekend.

Why was Memorial Day first called Decoration Day?

Because people decorated the graves of the war dead with flowers. General John A. Logan's order of 1868 set May 30 for it. Decoration, Logan and Flowers are answers.

What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

Memorial Day honors those who died in military service. Veterans Day, November 11, honors everyone who has served, the living above all.

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