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The Doughboy Foundation will sponsor the annual Bells of Peace Ceremony on Tuesday November 11, 2025, starting at 11:00 a.m. EST with prelude music by the American Expeditionary Forces Band Brass Quintet starting at 10:45 a.m. at The National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC, located on Pennsylvania Ave between 14th and 15th streets. The ceremony is free and open to the public, or can be watched via livestream on our Youtube channel.

Bells of Peace commemorates the end of World War I and honors the 4.7 million Americans who donned the uniform and the 116,516 who lost their lives in that conflict. November 11 is now Veterans Day, a day to recognize all military Veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Originally called Armistice Day, the date marked the end of hostilities in WWI and is observed as Remembrance Day in other countries.

At the National WWI Memorial, while honoring our Veterans, we will also honor and uphold the original purpose of November 11 through a multi-national commemorative ceremony, and observe the day by remembering the 4.7 million American military members who served in WWI and all those from other nations who served alongside them.

You can purchase a collector’s item of the 2018 Bells of Peace, Coin commemorating the centennial of the end of WWI. Also one of our very popular Poppy Pins.
Just click on the image above.

The Bells of Peace Ceremony will be live streamed starting at 1045 am
Click on video above

This event is free and open to the public.

Our keynote speaker will be the Ambassador from New Zealand, Rosemary Banks. Ambassador Banks graduated with an MA in Russian from the University of Canterbury,] and received an MSc from the London School of Economics. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature by the University of Canterbury in April 2015. Banks served as New Zealand deputy high commissioner to the Solomon Islands between 1985 and 1987, and to Australia from 1992 until 1995. She was New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from June 2005 to June 2009, and Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative to the OECD from 2010 to 2014. In 2018, Banks succeeded Tim Groser as New Zealand ambassador to the United States.

Other participants will include representatives of the Embassies from Australia, Belgium, France, Serbia, and New Zealand, as well as the American Gold Star Mothers, The Military Order of World Wars, and the Pershing Rifles. Wreaths will be presented, the National WWI brass bell will be rung 21 times, and the solemn bugle calls of Aux Morts, Last Post, and Taps will be sounded in honor of those who gave their lives during WWI.

The ceremony is free and open to the public.

  • Bells of peace at WWI Memorial 2021
  • Dayton Remarks
  • NHHC ship's bell

Schedule of Events

  • PRE-CEREMONY MUSIC- AEF Band Brass Quintet

  • INTRODUCTION Mr. Jari Villanueva President, The Doughboy Foundation

  • PRESENTATION OF COLORS by the Joint Service Color Guard

  • UNITED STATES ANTHEM performed by the AEF Brass Quintet

  • INVOCATION Rev. Anne Weatherholt

  • REMARKS

  • MUSICAL SELECTION  The Invercargill March by Alex Lithgow AEF Band Brass Quintet

  • SPECIAL PRESENTATION to Mr. Chris Gekker, Bugler

  • REMARKS Ambassador Rosemary Banks

  • POEM “Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak” Mr. Daniel Dayton

  • BELL OF PEACE RUNG by Pershing Rifle Cadet

  • PRESENTATION OF WREATHS by Embassies and other organizations

  • AUX MORTS, THE LAST POST, TAPS

Your support for the Doughboy Foundation will help fund our mission in perpetuity, inspiring future generations of visitors and forever honoring our World War I veterans and all U.S. servicemen and women. Donate today →