The Washington Memorial Chapel has announced that it will join the country-wide Bells Of Peace initiative on November 11 to commemorate the Armistice Centennial and remember the 116,516 American lives that were lost in the “War that changed the world”.

The Chapel’s National Patriots Bell Tower, a prestigious structure complete with 58 bronze bells and a combined weight of 26 tons, will toll its bells 21 times in honor of America’s World War I heroes. A formal Chapel service starting at 10 AM, which will be halted for the 11 AM bell tolling, is scheduled for the commemoration with descendants of the 314th Infantry Regiment, a US Army unit of World War I that fought in the bloody Meuse-Argonne offensive and a representative of the WW I Centennial Commission in attendance.

An additional Evensong service will be held at 4 PM and will focus on the Chapel’s Bela Pratt sculpture. Translating to “Sacrifice and Devotion”, the sculpture earned the Chapel the title “the shrine of the American people”, due to its popularity among mothers, wives and sweethearts of soldiers serving in the military during World War I. The statue, dedicated to “the Mothers of the Nation”, was erected in 1914 by the Heckscher family in memory of their mother who died in childbirth.

The Evensong will be marked by the reading of three poems by British poets of World War I and will be attended by descendants of the Heckscher family. Said the Rev. Karl Krueger, the Chapel’s Interim Rector, “Just as George Washington knelt and prayed at Valley Forge for his troops and the nation, so we will kneel on November 11to remember those who served so that peace could be declared at the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month in 1918”.

The Chapel, which was built as a memorial to George Washington and his troops encamped at Valley Forge, has rich historical ties and has continued to be a memorial to America’s fallen in every war since. To restore and preserve this memorial, the Chapel has launched a fundraising campaign to raise $4.5 million. $1.5 million has already been pledged and work will begin shortly on the structure.

Visit http://www.savewashingtonmemorial.org to learn about the campaign.