THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
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FEATURES The National D–Day Memorial
Founded by the nonprofit National D–Day Memorial Foundation, the National D-Day Memorial (www.dday.org) is located in Bedford, Virginia, the home town of the Bedford Boys, a US military unit that suffered the worst American casualties of that fateful day. Bedford, population 3,200 in 1944, was the home of Company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment. Of the 170–soldier company, 91 men died, 64 were wounded, and only 15 were able to continue fighting by the end of D–Day. Of the 35 Bedford soldiers in the company, 19 died on D–Day, thus accounting for the highest per capita loss from any single community in the United States. The Virginia unit was the only National Guard contingent to land in the first wave of D–Day; all others were regular Army units composed of recruits from across the United States. Thus, the heavy losses sustained by the 116th on Omaha Beach translated into devastating losses for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Normandy Invasion of June 6, 1944, now known simply as D–Day, was the turning point in World War II – the decisive battle that spelled the beginning of the end of Hitler’s dream of Nazi domination of the world. It was the largest military operation ever undertaken. On June 6 alone, 2,499 Americans and 1,914 allies lost their lives, 4,413 in all. By placing the Memorial outside of Washington, D.C., it is emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen–soldiers answered the nation’s call to arms. Years of hard work and dedication were finally realized on June 6, 2001 when the Memorial officially opened to the public. At the dedicatory ceremony President George W. Bush, Jr. said, "You have raised a fitting memorial to D–Day, and you have put it in just the right place – not on a battlefield of war, but in a small Virginia town, a place like so many others that was home to the men and women who helped liberate a continent." The Monument features three plazas, each commemorating a specific stage in the D–Day invasion, from planning to victory. The English Garden connects the site with England and Southwick House in particular, site of Allied headquarters and staging area for the invasion. Here the patch worn by the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force is depicted in a large–scale floral display. Cast in bronze nearby is Eisenhower’s Order of the Day, issued to every D–Day participant as the invasion got underway. An English Folly houses a larger–than–life–size statue of Gen. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of SHAEF.
Victory Plaza features a Victory Arch, 44–foot, 6–inch tall, inscribed with the word "OVERLORD," the operational name for the invasion of Normandy. Centered beneath the arch is 'Final Tribute,' a bronze rendering of a soldier’s battlefield grave marker. The code names of the five D–Day landing beaches are inscribed in a semicircle around the arch base. The plaza is surrounded by flags of the 12 Allied nations that participated in the invasion: the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom. An education center including a theatre, exhibit spaces, seminar and video rooms, computer education work stations, and research and archival space is being planned to complete the memorial complex. Read more about the Bedford Boys here |
