Visiting the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia

I moved to the small town of Bedford, Virginia with my family back in 1997 as a middle schooler. A few years later, the D-Day Memorial began to be built on a hill right outside of town, near the local elementary school. But why was it being built in our little town?

Back during World War II, the population of Bedford was only 3,200. About thirty soldiers from Bedford joined the 29th Infantry Division and fought on June 6, 1944 on the beaches of Normandy. Nineteen died that day, while two others died a few days later. Bedford lost the most people on D-Day, per capita, and that is why the memorial was built in Bedford.

There are many interesting things at the site. The most obvious thing one sees when they arrive at the Memorial is a large arch, called the Overlord Arch. It is called that because Overlord was for the code name for D-Day. It is exactly 44 feet and 6 inches tall, to commemorate the date of the D-Day invasion.

There are also many sculptures of soldiers around the site. "Scaling the Wall" shows what the soldiers had to face when they arrived on the beaches of Normandy. "Across the Beach" shows a soldier trying to pull another soldier across the beach. "Death on the Shore" is a soldier who is dead, on the beach. Next to him is a Bible. There are many other sculptures around the site, but these are just some examples.

One of the most moving parts of the Memorial is the representation of the actual invasion. The ground is the color of a beach, and is divided into five parts to represent the five beaches in the invasion. There is a pool of water, where water squirts up to represent gunfire that greeted the soldiers.

Beyond the invasion scene is an English garden, in the shape and color of the patch for Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). The symbol is of a flaming sword pointing towards a rainbow.

In addition, there are plaques honoring those who died, a WWII plane, and flags of all the Allied countries that had soldiers fighting on D-Day.

There is a gift shop at the Memorial, where you can purchase literature on D-Day and World War II, t-shirts, hats, music, magnets, and more.

On June 6, 2001, the Memorial was officially dedicated. President Bush even came and spoke to the crowd of over 24,000 people.

If you're ever on 460 and pass a little town called Bedford, please check out the National D-Day Memorial. It is a great honor to those who sacrificed their lives on D-Day.