Remember D-day

There were 35 men from Bedford, Viriginia, in company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division—one of the first two assault regiments on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. By the end of the day, 19 of them were dead and 2 more had mortal wounds. Bedford, with a 1944 population of 3,200, suffered the highest per capita death rate of any American community during the Normandy invasion, making it an apt site for a monument to teh Allied Forces on D-Day. The National D-Day Memorial, punctuated by the 44-foot, 6-inch Overlord Arch, ws dedicated on June 6. In the surrounding nine acres, a traditional English garden pays homage to the country where the Allies planned the invasion, and a 20-foot sculpture depicts soldiers struggling up Omaha’ seawall. A 2,000-seat amphitheater and a three-story education center are scheduled for completion in 2004. For more information, call 800-351-DDAY or visit www.dday.org .