The Bedford Boys

The Bedford Boys. “Think not upon their passing. Remember the glory of their Spirit”. On Sunday, 25 June 1944 Ivylyn Schenk wrote from her home in Bedford to her husband who was serving with the 29th Infantry Division and stationed in Europe. She wrote him faithfully each day and on this particular day was excited to acknowledge their anniversary. , ,

John, my darling. , Well, it has been twenty-two months since we were married. It has seemed very long, and yet, unbelievably short in duration - the only constant thing about it is that I continue to love and appreciate you more and more each day. How it thrills me to realize that soon you'll be coming back home and we will be together for the rest of our lives… ,

Ivylyn had no idea that as she lovingly composed this letter, her husband John lay buried on the beaches of Normandy, killed 19 days earlier on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Ivylyn would never be the same. And so it would be for families throughout the country. Sweethearts, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, and family members would cheer the news of a successful invasion, and grieve at the loss. , , Among the hundreds of thousands massed off the shores of Normandy on the morning of 6 June 1944 were 44 soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the town and county of Bedford, Virginia. 31 of these young men belonged to Company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division. Three others were assigned to other companies of the 116th, another one to a different division, and one served with the Navy in support of the landings. Two more sons of Bedford were in the skies that morning as part of the pre-invasion bombardment. For almost all of them, this would be their baptism of fire. , , Company A of the 116th was a National Guard unit with roots stretching back to the famed "Stonewall Brigade" of the Civil War. Its Bedford contingent was especially close, its young members having joined the Guard together during the tough Depression years. Mobilized in late 1941, by October 1942 the company transferred to England for more than a year of additional training to prepare for the D-Day invasion. , , The invasion plan called for Company A to land at Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach at 0630 as part of the first wave. After reaching shore, they were to eliminate opposition and secure the D-1 draw, a vital exit from the beachhead for subsequent waves of troops bound for Vierville. Unfortunately, heavy cloud cover that morning made distinguishing targets difficult. Fearful of accidentally dropping ordnance on Allied landing craft waiting offshore, many planes and ships directed their fire further inland, leaving German beach fortifications in some places almost untouched - with catastrophic consequences. When Company A landed on target and on time at Dog Green beach - one of only a handful of units to do so - they received the fire intended for a much larger force. , , For Bedford, the result was especially devastating. Of 37 assigned to Company A, 31 loaded into landing craft and headed for Omaha Beach in the first wave; the remainder belonged to supply details and would arrive later. En route, a landing craft struck an obstacle and sank, stranding dozens far from shore, including five of Bedford's boys. The remaining 26 successfully reached Omaha Beach, where 16 were killed and 4 wounded within a matter of minutes. Three others were unaccounted for and later presumed killed in action. Another Bedford boy was killed in action elsewhere on Omaha Beach with Company E, bringing Bedford's D-Day fatalities to a total of 20. In comparison with its 1940s population, Bedford suffered the nation's severest per capita D-Day loss, a somber distinction for the rural Virginia community. , , The sculpture "Homage" is a symbolic piece, emblematic of those communities across the country that nurtured those who went away to war and grieved for those who never returned. "Homage" was dedicated during the 70th anniversary of D-Day in 2014. , , Given in grateful memory of the Bedford Boys and their families who endured unthinkable loss so that we could be free.