This was probably my favorite part. After we left Poplar Forest, we went to the
National D-day memorial in Bedford, VA.
The reason it was chosen to be the home of the memorial is because Bedford boys enlisted as soon as they graduated from high school. In the many deaths that happened on D-day, 19 boys of the 30 something from Bedford died, three died within days. They suffered the largest per capita death in the United States. The telegrams that came about d-day came in July. One mother received 2 telegrams. For a community of only 3,200 people, 22 deaths was a huge hit. They were chosen as the city to host the D-day Memorial because of this connection.
It was an amazing memorial. I think it was one of the best put together memorials I've ever visited. It tells the story of D-day from it's inception, until it's hard won victory.
You start at the "English Garden" section. This is a pavilion with a statue of Eisenhower, the General in charge of the whole thing.
I'm going to share some facts that I remember being told. In order to make a map large enough for the war room, they had to turn to outside sources. They had a game company in England make the map in large unidentifiable parts. Then when it was finished they had two gentlemen from the company put it together. After they put it together they were taken into custody and kindly provided for and not allowed to leave until after the invasion.Their families were notified that they were being taken care of, but that the men couldn't return home for a while. They couldn't risk any of the information getting out.
On the ceiling above Eisenhower there is a map like the one they had made.
There were 5 beaches, Sword, Gold, Juno, Omaha, and Utah. All the branches of the Armed Forces were used, including the Coast Guard. They Coast Guard were the ones responsible for driving the boats back and forth across the channel to pick up and drop off the soldiers. They are also the ones who filmed parts of those days. It is thanks to them we have the films that have. The Air Force, the Navy, Military and the Coast Guard. I'll stop giving the history now, because I'm sure I'm getting stuff wrong.
Anyway, this is the shield that represented the Allied forces.
So then the garden is shaped and fashioned after this shield.
They were planting the summer flowers in the colors of the shied. The colors on the shield represented a color from every flag of the Allied Forces.
This is the sword.
The night before they landed, Eisenhower sent this letter to all the soldiers. The lady who was our guide played an original recording for us.
So after the Allied Forces planned, the next step is to attack. So the second part of the memorial is the beaches at Normandy.
There are two sides to this section. On one side is listed the American soldiers who died and on the other is listed the soldiers of the other countries who participated.
It's a huge plaza. It's divided into 5 sections, one for every beach.
As you approach the water, this is what you see.
The section that represents the actual beach, is concrete that has sand in it from Normandy. They brought a little piece of France to Bedford.
The things on the ground were put in place by the German's to tear holes in the bottoms of the ships. This was one reason the Allies needed to land at low tide.
There are mechanisms in the water that react like gunfire. It was a good effect.
The statues at the beach landing section.
An actual airplane used on D-day.
Then we wove our way around to the top. There is a statue in front of the arch of a soldier dragging another soldier.
If you look closely, you can see a wedding ring on the standing soldier's left hand.
That is an actual wedding ring from a D-day soldier.
On D-day there was a soldier who was caring for a comrade who said thought he was dying. The wounded soldier took off his wedding ring and asked that if he didn't make it, that his wife be sent his ring. After the fighting was over the helping soldier had this ring is his pocket, but no name and no way to find out who the man was who gave him the ring. He held onto it for years. When he got wind of the statues that had been commissioned for the memorial, he contacted the artist and told him his story. The artist had an idea and asked the man to send him the ring. He placed it on the left had of this statue in memoriam to all the men who left died and left wives behind. An amazing little story.
The arch has the black and white stripes that all the Allies painted onto their aircrafts, so they would know the planes from the different countries who were part of the Allied forces.
The statue of the downward gun with the helmet and dog tags.
The top of the statue of the men climbing the wall.
It was a pretty impressive memorial. Definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere in the neighborhood.
