D-Day Memorial

Thirty-four Virginia National Guard soldiers from Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, based in the town of Bedford before the war participated in D-Day. Company A was decimated within hours of landing, and 19 of the 34 men were killed during the first day of the invasion. Four more died during the rest of the Normandy campaign, two of them from other 116th companies. The town and the "Bedford Boys" proportionately suffered the greatest losses of any American town during the campaign, thus inspiring the United States Congress to situate the D-Day memorial in Bedford.