Doughboy Foundation Welcomes Belgium Delegation for Wreath Laying at National WWI Memorial
Published: 29 April 2026
By Doughboy Foundation staff
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(left to right) Belgian Minister of Defense H.E. Theo Francken, Belgian Ambassador H.E. Frédéric Bernard, and LTC Mark Goris of the Belgain Armed Forces lay a wreath at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC to honor and remember the Americans, Belgians, and others who lost their lives defending freedom and democracy during WWI.
(left to right) Michael Delaune, Taps Program Administrator, Doughboy Foundation; LTC Mark Goris, Belgain Armed Forces; Belgian Ambassador H.E. Frédéric Bernard ; Clair Sassin, President & CEO, Doughboy Foundation; Belgian Minister of Defense H.E. Theo Francken; Belgian Defense Attaché Brigadier General Marco Madile; Mr. Dr. Alexander Mattelaer.; Joren Vermeersch; Olivia Ellen De Greef, Executive Assistant to the Defense Attaché; Kevin Paul, Director of Operations, Doughboy Foundation.
(foreground) Belgian Ambassador H.E. Frédéric Bernard holds the historic bugle that belonged WWI American Expeditionary Forces commander General John Pershing, while Kevin Paul, Director of Operations, Doughboy Foundation, explains the instrument’s origins. Paul, who is one of the Foundation’s Taps Buglers, used the bugle, gifted to the Doughboy Foundation by Pershing’s late granddaughter-in-law Sandra Pershing, to sound Last Post at the event.
