VA TOWN IS HOME TO D-DAY MEMORIAL
By KIA SHANT'E BREAUX
Associated Press Writer
May 29,2000
BEDFORD, Va. (AP) - Ray Nance, who still has shrapnel lodged in his foot, has vivid memories of the bloodied beaches of Normandy - hundreds of his fellow soldiers' bodies washing up with the tide.
The D-Day invasion hit this rural farming community, with a population of 3,200 that year, harder than most. Nineteen of its 35 soldiers died during the first 15 minutes of the Allied invasion, four more in the following days. It was the most casualties per capita from any U.S. community.
That's why the small city 25 miles east of Roanoke was chosen as the site for the National D-Day Memorial, a portion of which was to be unveiled during a ceremony today.
Though most say the tribute is long overdue, it has opened old wounds.
``It brings back a lot of bad memories,'' said Nance, 84. ``I never really got over it. I'm not sure if I ever will.''
The $12 million memorial will honor the 6,603 Americans killed along the coast of France in the D-Day invasion of Nazi-held Europe during World War II. A total of 9,758 Allied soldiers died.
Work has been completed on a 44-foot granite arch. The memorial also will feature an education center, reflecting pool and the flags of the 13 nations that participated in the invasion.
Jeannie Schulz, widow of ``Peanuts'' cartoonist and World War II veteran Charles Schulz, was to be the featured speaker at today's ceremony. She took over as campaign chairman of the National D-Day Foundation after her husband died in February.
Bedford, which has grown to 6,400, has been the focus of national attention over the years because of its D-Day loss. Some have grown tired of rehashing their stories, while others such as Lucille Hoback Boggess don't mind it. She was age 15 when her two brothers were killed.
``Taking 19 men out of a small community was like losing a generation of our young men,'' said Boggess, now 70. ``You often wonder what our community would be like if they had survived.''
Both Roy Stevens and his twin brother, Ray, were in the Virginia National Guard at the time. Only one made it home.
Roy Stevens' landing craft sank before he reached the beach and he had to be rescued from the English Channel. He regrets not saying good-bye to his brother before they boarded separate landing crafts.
``He tried to shake my hand on the gangplank before we got off, but I told him we'd do it when we get to the crossroads at Vierville-sur-Mer,'' Stevens said. ``That never happened.''
Four days later, he found Ray's dog tags on a cross in the sand where his company was to have landed.
The military no longer forms units out of soldiers from a single community.
Bedford's D-Day story has attracted donors to the memorial project from across the country.
A contribution from ``Saving Private Ryan'' director Steven Spielberg will be used to build the memorial's theater. It will be named for the director's father, Arnold Spielberg, a World War II veteran who flew Army Air Corps missions as a radio operator in Burma.
Spielberg won a best director Academy Award for the film about the invasion.
Bob Slaughter, chairman of the D-Day foundation who fought during the invasion, called the memorial a symbol of freedom.
``It will remind people that freedom is not cheap,'' Slaughter said. ``These men did so much and they should not be forgotten.''
Dedication of the completed memorial is scheduled for June 6, 2001, the 57th anniversary of the invasion.
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