The Lynchburg and Salem Turnpike Co. was incorporated in 1818 to build a turnpike from Lynchburg west to Salem. The road reached Liberty (now Bedford) in 1828 and was completed to Salem in 1836. In Bedford County, covered bridges spanned the Big . . . — — Map (db m18830) HM
One of the major components of the National D-Day Memorial, Lawhorne Circle, named for Lieutenant Maurice T. Lawhorne, Army Air Force, recognizes the service and contributions of the Allied Air Forces in support of the Normandy landing and Operation . . . — — Map (db m242033) HM WM
Médaille commémorative de la guerre
Of Belgium's military medals for the Second World War, the Médatile commémorative de la guerre 1940-1945 had the broadest circulation. Established on 16 February 1945, the War Commemorative Medal . . . — — Map (db m240426) HM WM
Military Police (MP) Platoons
Normandy, France, June - August 1944
The Military Police Corps is the uniformed law enforcement branch of the United States Army. At Normandy, as for other combat operations, MP platoons had the . . . — — Map (db m240389) HM WM
Following the disastrous raid at Dieppe on the French coast in August 1942, Allied commanders realized that while a port would be essential to any invasion of occupied France, it need not necessarily be wrested from enemy hands. Instead, the idea of . . . — — Map (db m241116) HM WM
The modest Dutch military force that escaped to England when the Netherlands fell did not participate in Operation Overlord. A cruiser, HMNS Sumatra, and two gunboats did represent the Dutch Navy in Operation Neptune. The two gunboats fired . . . — — Map (db m240038) HM WM
>br>About 30,000 members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force were in Operation Overlord. Squadrons of New Zealand's fighters and bombers flew in every phase, the former performing with particular efficacy above Omaha Beach on D-Day. Some 4,000 . . . — — Map (db m240047) HM WM
Since the commencement of World War II, the New Zealand Memorial Cross has been presented to the next of kin of the New Zealand servicemen and women killed during war service, operational service overseas, or who later died of wounds received in the . . . — — Map (db m240431) HM WM
Organized at Camp Sheridan, Alabama, on 18 July 1918, the 9th Infantry Division was the last Regular Army division activated for World War I. It disbanded on 15 February 1919. Reactivated on 1 August 1940 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the division . . . — — Map (db m240172) HM WM
Established at Bowman Field, Kentucky, as V Air Support Command on 21 August 1941 and activated on 1 September, the fledgling unit was redesignated 9th Air Force on 8 April 1942 and assigned, on 22 July 1942, to Bolling Field, Washington, DC. On 18 . . . — — Map (db m241237) HM WM
Ten warships of the Royal Norwegian Navy in exile took part in Operation Neptune. The Svenner! a brand new destroyer, was struck midship by a German torpedo at H-1 and went down in a quarter-hour. The Norwegian Merchant Navy also committed . . . — — Map (db m240052) HM WM
Omar Nelson Bradley
12 February 1893 - 8 April 1981
Commanding General, United States First Army
A 1915 graduate of the United States Military Academy, Omar Bradley was first among the fifty-nine general officers in "the class the stars . . . — — Map (db m240251) HM WM
Activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, on 15 August 1942 to become the U.S. Army's second division of airborne infantry, the "Screaming Eagles" came into being under the command of Brig. Gen. William C. Lee, who told his troops, "the 101st has no . . . — — Map (db m240785) HM WM
Operation Fortitude stands out as one of the most vital contributions made by the Allied staff during the planning and preparation for the D-Day invasion. Formulated as a plan "to induce the enemy to make faulty dispositions in northwest Europe . . . — — Map (db m240304) HM WM
Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the French National Order of the Legion of Honor recognizes meritorious service to the French republic. The order is open to military personnel and civilians, citizens and foreigners, men and women alike, . . . — — Map (db m241987) HM WM
(preface)
On May 26, 1864, Union Gen. David Hunter marched south from Cedar Creek near Winchester to drive out Confederate forces, lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley, and destroy transportation facilities at Lynchburg. His raid was part of . . . — — Map (db m55780) HM
This road was followed by General Hunter when he crossed the Blue Ridge at the Peaks of Otter and came to Bedford en route to Lynchburg, June 16, 1864. — — Map (db m42893) HM
Mindful of Germany's September 1, 1939
invasion of Poland, the government-in-exile was eager for its forces to participate in D-Day. Polish ground troops did not deploy until later, but the Polish Wing of the 84th Royal Air Force Group and a Polish . . . — — Map (db m240057) HM WM
Built in the early 1800's, this simple mountain cabin was operated as an inn, or "ordinary", from about 1830 until about 1850. Here the widowed Polly Woods catered to the "ordinary" needs of the weary mountain traveler -- a hot meal, a comfortable . . . — — Map (db m9655) HM
Purple Heart
By order issued at his headquarters at Newburgh, New York, 7 August 1782, General George Washington designated the Purple Heart as the Army's Badge of Military Merit. He presented it to three sergeants, and it was not . . . — — Map (db m240419) HM WM
A Quaker Meeting was established on Goose Creek in 1757, and a meeting house built. Fear of Indians caused most of the Quakers to move elsewhere though some of them returned. Unsuccessful attempts were made to re-establish the Goose Creek Meeting. . . . — — Map (db m65610) HM
Randolph-Macon Academy, a Methodist preparatory school for boys, occupied a building on this site from 1890 until 1934 when the school was consolidated with the Randolph-Macon Academy at Front Royal. In 1936, the property was purchased by Bedford . . . — — Map (db m42878) HM
A native of Bristol, Virginia, who attended King College, Columbia University, and the University of Virginia, industrialist-poet Richard S. Reynolds Sr. founded Reynolds Metals Company. In 1935, he presciently selected an image of St. George . . . — — Map (db m241210) WM
Richard S. Reynolds Sr. (1881-1955) was an industrialist and poet, whose breadth of vision, common sense, and patriotism compelled him to take uncommon risks to prepare the American aluminum industry for war. The penultimate stanza of his poem “An . . . — — Map (db m241879) HM WM
Robey W. Estes Sr. served with the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations. A platoon sergeant in Company E of the 116th Infantry Regiment on D-Day, he was part of the first wave of the attack on Omaha Beach. Wounded during the . . . — — Map (db m61339) HM WM
Robey W. Estes Sr. Plaza is the third major element of the National D-Day Memorial.
A stylized triumphal arch bearing the invasion's code name (Overlord) surmounts the plaza, rising forty-four and one half feet high (for 6/6/44). Estes Plaza . . . — — Map (db m240142) HM WM
Some visitors viewing the twenty-foot tall bronze relief mounted on the wall below the Overload Arch might suppose that the sculpture pays particular tribute to the members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion who ascended the cliffs at Pointe du-Hoc. Such a . . . — — Map (db m242038) HM WM
Commissioned at Camp Bradford, Virginia, in late March of 1943 under Commander John F. Curtin, the 2nd Naval Beach Battalion (NBB) was the most seasoned of the three NBBs to participate in the D-Day assault on Normandy. The 2nd NBB, along with the . . . — — Map (db m240769) HM WM
One of two battalions that on D-Day made up the Provisional Ranger Group (PRG) under the command of Lt. Col. James E. Rudder, the Second Ranger Battalion was activated at Camp Forest, Tennessee, on 1 April 1943. For the landing, the PRG was . . . — — Map (db m241814) HM WM
The Second World War Mothers and Widows Badge was a silver-colored disk authorized for issue to the mothers and widows of members of the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Imperial Force, Citizens Military Forces, and Royal Australian Air Force . . . — — Map (db m240422) WM
Commissioned on 5 October 1943 at Camp Bradford, Virginia, under Commander L. C. Leever, the 7th Naval Beach Battalion (NBB) was later filled with unassigned sailors and men drawn from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th NBBs. At full strength, NBBs . . . — — Map (db m240855) WM
On 23 April 1943, Major General Richard N. “Windy" Gale, a veteran brigade commander who had served with the 1st Airborne Division (British) in North Africa, received orders to raise the 6th Airborne Division and lead its preparations for the Allied . . . — — Map (db m241270) HM WM
Commissioned on 9 October 1943 at Camp Bradford, Virginia, under Commander Eugene C. Carusi, USNR, the 6th Naval Beach Battalion (NBB) moved to Fort Pierce, Florida, for amphibious-warfare training. On D-Day, the 6th NBB would number about 400 . . . — — Map (db m241610) HM WM
In the autumn of 1943, British Lt. Gen. Frederick Morgan, Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC), directed the creation of a shoulder sleeve insignia (patch) for the use by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces . . . — — Map (db m240316) HM WM
Susie G. Gibson (1878-1949), teacher and community activist, was Bedford County's supervisor of African American education for 22 years. Her work was sponsored by the Jeanes Fund, established in 1907 to enhance opportunities for Black students in . . . — — Map (db m243627) HM
On 29 December 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced "it is the purpose of the nation to build now with all possible speed every machine, every arsenal, every factory that we need to manufacture our defense material. We have the men, the . . . — — Map (db m242057) HM WM
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 . . . — — Map (db m241543) HM WM
In honor of all graduates and former cadets of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, who participated in the Great Crusade to overthrow oppression and tyranny and bring about peace and security to Europe.
We dedicate this plaque . . . — — Map (db m242083) WM
Formed at Camp Gordon, Georgia, on 25 August 1917, the 82nd Infantry Division comprised soldiers from all 48 states; hence the nickname and double-A shoulder patch. After fighting with distinction in three World War I campaigns, the division . . . — — Map (db m240728) HM WM
The Glider Pilot Regiment
“Nothing is Impossible”
The Glider Pilot Regiment was raised in 1941 on the order of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and formally inaugurated on 24th February 1942 as part of the British Army . . . — — Map (db m240390) WM
Formed on 1 April 1918, the Royal Air Force is the world's oldest independent air force. During World War II, the RAF had three front-line commands: Coastal Command, Fighter Command, and Bomber Command.
RAF Coastal Command had a D-Day . . . — — Map (db m241245) HM WM
On D-Day the US First Army comprising two
corps (five divisions with auxiliary units and services - about 73,000 troops) landed on and around Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and the
Cotentin Peninsula. The US provided 16.5 percent of the Allied warships . . . — — Map (db m240078) HM WM
The United States Marines in the European Theater
“Semper Fidelis”
For nearly 250 years, United States Marines have been found wherever American lives and interests were in jeopardy. World War Il Europe was no exception. Well . . . — — Map (db m240392) HM WM
Formed in 1940 by citizen-soldiers recruited to serve in units named for their home regions (e.g. Winnipeg Rifles, Regina Rifles, North Nova Scotia Highlanders, etc.), the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was commanded by Maj. Gen. R. F. L. Keller. . . . — — Map (db m241296) HM WM
Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, formed the division in 1809 to serve in the Peninsula War. Known during the Napoleonic Wars as the "Fighting Third," the division fought at the Battle of Waterloo and later in the Crimean War and Second . . . — — Map (db m241258) HM WM
Trafford Leigh Leigh-Mallory
11 July 1892 - 14 November 1944
Commander in Chief, Allied Expeditionary Force Air Force
Trafford Leigh-Mallory read law at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he met Arthur Tedder. Serving in the . . . — — Map (db m240803) HM WM
Little recognized in popular histories of the Second World War, the U.S. Navy Armed Guard (USNAG) and U.S. Merchant Marine (USMM) played a central role in transporting the personnel and material the Allies needed to achieve victory. In the process . . . — — Map (db m241168) HM WM
Facing a shortage of men to build additional ships and create new bases and facilities in the wake of the 7 December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Secretary of the Navy petitioned the U.S. Congress in January 1942, to establish a women’s . . . — — Map (db m241200) HM WM
On D-Day the British Second Army composed of two corps (including three British divisions with auxiliary units and services - some 62,000 Britons) landed on and around Gold Beach, Sword Beach, and along the Orne River toward Caen. The UK provided . . . — — Map (db m240058) HM WM
By the end of 1944, more than 6,500 nurses, all commissioned officers, were serving in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Of that number, 500 were Flight Nurses based wherever casualties required evacuation by air. On entering the USAAF, all . . . — — Map (db m241242) HM WM
In our public memory of D-Day, the role of the United States Coast Guard too often goes unremarked. While Coast Guardsmen served in smaller numbers than their counterparts in the Army, Navy and Merchant Marine, their service was a vital ingredient . . . — — Map (db m241206) HM WM
Remember the
valor, fidelity, and sacrifice
of the graduates and alumni of the
United States Military Academy
on D-Day, 6 June 1944
Their leadership and service
In the climatic battle of the
Second World War . . . — — Map (db m241553) WM
The United States Naval Academy was established in 1845 at Annapolis, Maryland. Its mission is to develop midshipmen morally, mentally, and physically, and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor, and loyalty, and to provide the nation . . . — — Map (db m242249) HM WM
One of three American battleships in Operation Neptune, USS Arkansas was the oldest battleship in the U.S. Navy. She was laid down at Camden, New Jersey, on 25 January 1910, launched on 14 January 1911, and commissioned on 17 September . . . — — Map (db m241073) HM WM
USS Augusta, CA-31
“Augie Maru”
Awarded Three Battle Stars for World War II Service
Laid down on 2 July 1928, USS Augusta launched on 1 February 1930. Commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 30 January 1931, Augusta . . . — — Map (db m241119) HM WM
The British evacuation from Dunkirk, France, in 1940 made clear the need for ocean-going vessels capable of loading and landing large quantities of troops, cargo, and vehicles on an unimproved shore. The British Admiralty got busy and began design . . . — — Map (db m241161) HM WM
Laid down on 4 November 1912 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, USS Nevada launched on 11 July 1914. With Capt William S. Sims in command, Nevada commissioned on 11 March 1916, joined the Atlantic . . . — — Map (db m241101) HM WM
Named for LTJG Ralph McMaster Rich, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross for "capable and aggressive leadership" during the Battle of Midway, USS Rich was laid down on 27 March 1943 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan. . . . — — Map (db m241110) HM WM
The second battleship to bear the name, USS Texas was laid down at Newport News, Virginia, on 17 April 1911, launched on 18 May 1912, and commissioned on 12 March 1914, with Captain Albert W. Grant commanding. Without benefit of a shakedown . . . — — Map (db m241084) HM WM
Commemorating the
WWII Service of the
Virginia Military Institute
Citizen-Soldiers
who, in time of deepest peril, came
to the aid of their country.
Over 4,000 served,
185 gave their lives.
In every Branch, In . . . — — Map (db m241554) HM WM
Commemorating the Wartime Service and Sacrifice of the Citizen-Soldier Members of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute Corps of Cadets
Virginia Tech was founded as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872 - Virginia's . . . — — Map (db m242898) HM WM
Mr. W.E. Stevens was a man of soil. He and his wife maintained a farm six miles outside the City of Bedford, Virginia. After the United States entered the Second World War, the government soon revived the World War I practice of victory gardening. . . . — — Map (db m243621) WM
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
30 November 1874 - 24 January 1965
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
10 May 1940 - 26 July 1945 and
26 October 1951 - 7 April 1955
First Honorary Citizen of the United States, 1963 . . . — — Map (db m240266) HM WM
When George Washington stood here in 1772, he sought a way to open a water route to the West. Traveling over the region’s most rugged mountains was time consuming and dangerous. New settlers needed a more efficient way to transport goods like . . . — — Map (db m95959) HM
The James River flows from the mountains through Lynchburg and Richmond to the coast. It is the largest river in Virginia and, historically, one of the state’s most important transportation corridors. Before the Civil War, investors built a canal . . . — — Map (db m95958) HM
Walter Bedell “Beetle” Smith
5 October 1895 - 89 August 1961
Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force
Enlisting in the Indiana National Guard at age sixteen, "Beetle" Smith earned a reserve commission at . . . — — Map (db m240260) HM WM
The National D-Day Memorial exists to honor the Valor, Fidelity, and Sacrifice of the Allied Forces on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the qualities giving this allegorical sculpture its name. The soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast guardsmen, and . . . — — Map (db m241067) HM WM
Long before Jefferson built his retreat house here, he had enslaved men, women and older children working the tobacco and wheat fields—going "into the ground," as he called it. They planted up to 300,000 hillocks of tobacco each year. It took 18 . . . — — Map (db m198081) HM
The Wing of Offices was constructed on the east side of Jefferson's retreat home in 1814, “110 feet long, in the manner of those at Monticello, with a flat roof in the level of the floor of the house." Hannah, the enslaved cook, spent many of her . . . — — Map (db m198085) HM
Bedford County was probably named for the English statesman John Russell, fourth duke of Bedford. Russell, as secretary of state for the Southern Department from 1748 to 1751, had general supervision of colonial affairs. Bedford was formed from . . . — — Map (db m234611) HM
(lower)
Commemorating Lewis and Clark
In 2003, surveyors placed a monument on the lawn northwest of the house to commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The brass survey disk bears the design of Jefferson's Indian Peace . . . — — Map (db m99783) HM
Except for Jefferson himself, no one deserves more credit for the ornate character of the retreat house than his enslaved craftsman John Hemings. He apprenticed as a joiner under James Dinsmore, an Irish immigrant. "There is nothing superior in the . . . — — Map (db m198084) HM
About 200 feet north of this location, a fence marked the edge of the "curtilage." This sixty-one acre area separated the house and designed landscape from the larger plantation. In 1813, Jefferson noted that he had "inclosed and divided it into . . . — — Map (db m99785) HM
"If you would engage the negroes to dig and remove the earth South of the house, 90 feet wide, down to a foot below the lower floor, & descending from thence due South 1 inch in every 10 ft. ...l would gladly pay them for it, but it is only with . . . — — Map (db m198083) HM
(preface)
On May 26, 1864, Union Gen. David Hunter marched south from Cedar Creek near Winchester to drive out Confederate forces, lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley, and destroy transportation facilities at Lynchburg. His raid was part of . . . — — Map (db m55782) HM
Chartered by the state in 1795, this is the oldest secondary school in Virginia in continuous operation under its own charter. Conducted for many years as a private school for boys, it began to receive public funds in 1884. It now operates as a . . . — — Map (db m55789) HM
Half a mile north is St. Stephen's Church, built about 1825 under Rev. Nicholas Cobb, later Bishop of Alabama. In the old cemetery here many members of early families of the community are buried. — — Map (db m42894) HM
When Jefferson became president in 1801, Poplar Forest was a 4,500-acre plantation with at least 60 enslaved men, women and children living and working on the property. In August 1806, President Jefferson visited Poplar Forest to help his . . . — — Map (db m198082) HM
Francis Eppes inherited the house and 1,074 acres following his grandfather's death. His cousin Thomas Jefferson Randolph sold the remainder of the estate to cover debts. The Eppes, Cobbs, Hutter and Watts families who lived at Poplar Forest in the . . . — — Map (db m99781) HM
Thomas Jefferson's landscape design of house and mounds may have been influenced by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio's five-part plan for a villa (left) — pavilion, hyphen, main block, hyphen, pavilion.
In his innovative design, Jefferson . . . — — Map (db m99779) HM
Thomas Jefferson designed the sunken lawn to accommodate the lower level of the house and form an area similar to a plain parterre or bowling green. Enslaved laborers led by Phil Hubbard, working on their own time for pay, excavated the lawn and . . . — — Map (db m99784) HM
Appalachian Power Company constructed Smith
Mountain and Leesville Dams between 1960 and
1963 to generate hydroelectric energy. The waters
of the Roanoke and Blackwater Rivers formed Smith
Mountain Lake, one of two resulting reservoirs,
which . . . — — Map (db m104439) HM
On April 11, 1790, a congregation of 32 organized here as the “Baptist Church of Christ on Stanton at the mouth of Black Water.” William Johnson, John Anthony and Thomas Douglass were the ministers present and Johnson was chosen pastor. . . . — — Map (db m153024) HM
These two brick buildings, constructed in the mid-19th century by the Hutter family, served as housing for their plantation workers. Family recollections say that the northern building was a residence for the overseer, while the southern one was . . . — — Map (db m99787) HM
"Clump Of Athenian & Balsam poplars at each corner of the house
intermix locusts, common and Kentucky, redbuds, dogwoods,
calycanthus, liriodendron"
Poplar Forest Planting Memorandum 1812
Archaeologists discovered the remains of a . . . — — Map (db m99786) HM
Near here stood a fortified dwelling used for shelter during periods of warfare between European colonists and Native Americans. To this fort in 1756 came Mary Draper Ingles (Mrs. William Ingles) for protection following her escape from captivity by . . . — — Map (db m42851) HM
Straight ahead are SharpTop Mountain and Flat Top Mountain. They are two of the three prominent summits that surround the Peaks of Otter area, approximately 6.5 miles distant. No one knows for certain why the area is called the Peaks of Otter. The . . . — — Map (db m95955) HM
On 2 July 1889, a heavy storm turned nearby Wolf Creek into a raging river. The railroad embankment known as Newman’s Fill, just north of here, became saturated. About 1:25 AM, it collapsed under the weight of Norfolk & Western Passenger Train . . . — — Map (db m84781) HM
Nearby are buried several prominent area settlers and their descendants. Col. William Callaway, in 1755 one of the first two members of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Bedford County, donated the hundred acres of land on which the town of New . . . — — Map (db m65605) HM
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