US Embassy in Nairobi to close for Memorial Day

The United States Embassy in Nairobi has announced that it will be closed to the public on Monday, May 25, 2026, in observance of Memorial Day.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the mission confirmed the temporary suspension of routine consular and administrative services, noting that normal operations will resume on Tuesday morning.

“We will be closed Monday, May 25, in observance of Memorial Day,” the notice read, advising applicants and members of the public to plan their schedules accordingly.

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. It is dedicated to honoring and remembering members of the U.S. military who lost their lives in service to the country.

Originally called Decoration Day, it was formalized by a "Memorial Day Order" issued by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868.

The modern proclamation calls on Americans "to observe Memorial Day by praying, according to their individual religious faith, for permanent peace."

In the waning years of the Civil War (1861–1865) and immediately afterward, communities in the North and South, Black and White, decorated soldiers' graves with floral honors on springtime "decoration days." The practice of strewing flowers on graves has been documented from Classical Roman times to western Europe in the nineteenth century.

On May 5, 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a politically powerful organization of Union veterans led by Major General John A. Logan — issued General Orders No. 11 or the "Memorial Day Act." This issuance formally established "Memorial Day" as a Decoration Day on which the nation would remember its war dead and decorate their graves with flowers.

In subsequent decades competition flourished to claim when and where the first such gathering occurred — in one way or another. Recent scholarship, however, points to the ladies of Columbus, GA, who in April 1866 lobbied for a clearly defined Memorial Day on which to place flowers on the graves of Civil War dead.