Mention the word D-Day and you evoke images of the Beaches of Normandy and white marble crosses marching across the landscape in silent, precise rows, marking the sacrifice of those who lost their lives on the sands on France. You wouldn’t normally equate a town in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with the largest air, sea, and land operation in history. However, more than any other town in America, Bedford suffered the greatest losses amongst the servicemen who perished on 6 June 1944. It was to honor this sacrifice by the people of Bedford that Congress established the National D-Day Memorial here, as a National Monument.

Like so many towns and cities across America, Bedford  (population 3,500 in 1944) provided a company of soldiers (Company A) to the 29th Infantry Division when the National Guard was activated in 1941. Nineteen of the “Bedford Boys” died on D-Day, proportionally the highest per capita loss of life for any one town.

The memorial is actually the brainchild of Robert “Bob” Slaughter, a native of Roanoke, Virginia who was in the third wave of troops to hit Omaha beach on 6 June and experienced it firsthand. It is his perseverance and determination that have made this Memorial a reality.

After checking in at the Bedford Area Welcome Center (where tickets to the site are sold), you drive up a meandering road to the top of the hill. The Memorial is laid out in such a way as to chronologically illustrate the planning and execution of the Operation, codenamed “Overlord.” Even though you can enter the site at any one of several locations, drive around to the north of the Memorial where the bust of Franklin Delano Roosevelt sits at the end of the path. From here you can walk the site, following the sequence of events as they unfolded.

The Richard S. Reynolds garden is a beautiful formal English garden which establishes England as the starting point for the Operation. At the farthest end sits a white rotunda with a statue of General Dwight D Eisenhower (the Supreme Commander), facing towards Normandy. Over his head, a mosaic copied from the Operations Center at Southwick House, Portsmouth, where much of the battle planning took place, lays out the map of the operation. Busts of Eisenhower’s senior subordinates, including Field Marshal Montgomery, General Omar Bradley, and others, line the sides of the formal garden (constructed in the shape of the uniform patch of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force), their steely gazes looking into the distance.

As you walk up the stairway to Elmon T. Gray Plaza, a grey concrete space opens up before you, symbolizing the waves of the ocean. Four stripes lead to the center of the beach tableau. The five areas created by these stripes symbolize the five D-Day landing beaches. The day we visit it is grey and rainy, the wet concrete accentuating the bleakness of the realistic tableau and its meaning. The center of the plaza is a curved reflecting pool representing the English Channel and the landing beaches. A tableau opens before you. The Sculpture of a Higgins landing craft is unloading soldiers who slog through the water carrying their gear and rifles over their heads; fountains continuously shoot noisy bursts of water that sound like staccato machine gun fir exploding around the men.

The statues of the soldiers are in various stances. One is trudging through the water between obstacles (symbolizing those erected by the Germans to scuttle the landing craft); another is helping his wounded comrade up the beach while a third lies lifeless on the sand. All around Gray Plaza are Bronze Tablets decorated with the flags of the nations participating in Operation Overlord, together with the names of those who lost their lives. The Western Wall lists US servicemen while the eastern wall focuses on the names of servicemen of other nationalities.

Above the landing tableau,  sculptures of soldiers scale the casement and bunkers that were on the beaches, their faces etched in pain as they struggle to keep hold of the rope. Symbolically, they reach for the triumphal Art Deco arch above them, embossed with the word “Overlord.” The Arch (in Estes Plaza) reminds you of those seen in Europe. It is 44′ 6″ high, symbolic of the date of the operation, 1944, June. On the top of the Arch are the markings that identified Allied Aircraft. The names of the five beaches used in the invasion are inscribed on the granite surrounding the Arch.

Along the southern flak of Estes Plaza fly the flags of the 12 countries that took part in operation Overlord. Beneath them, peeking out of a grassy bed, lined with flags left by visitors, is a sculpture of a soldier advancing with his weapon at the ready entitled, “Valor, Fidelity and Sacrifice.” Some feet away, in the Edward R. Stettinius Jr Parade, stands a replica of “Le Monument Aux Morts,” created by sculptor Edmond de Laheurdie in 1921 as a memory to the 44 men from Trévières, France who died in World War I. The sculpture, Victory, holding a sword, was damaged during the operation. When it was recast for the D-Day memorial, the damage was symbolically preserved.

Speaking after the war, General Omar Bradley said, “I have returned many times (to Normandy) to honor the valiant men who died — every man who set foot on Omaha Beach was a hero.” The poignancy and emotion of the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia are a sobering lesson about war and sacrifice.

IF YOU GO
The D-Day Memorial is located at 3 Overlord Circle, Bedford, VA (Tel 540-58603329. It is open daily 1000 to 1700 but check the website to be sure. The Memorial pool is drained of water and maintained during the winter so the best time to visit is March through November.