On June 6, 1944 Allied Forces stormed the beaches at Normandy, France.
Like eleven other Virginia communities, Bedford provided a company of soldiers (Company A) to the 29th Infantry Division when the National Guard's 116th Infantry Regiment was activated on 3 February 1941. Some thirty Bedford soldiers were still in that company on D-Day; several more from Bedford were in other D-Day companies, including one who, two years earlier, had been reassigned from the 116th Infantry to the First Infantry Division. Thus he had already landed in both Northern Africa and Sicily before coming ashore on D-Day at Omaha Beach with the Big Red One. Company A of the 116th Infantry assaulted Omaha Beach as part of the First Division's Task Force O. By day's end, nineteen of the company's Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford's population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation's severest D-Day losses.
The monument that you are looking at was placed by A Company after World War Two, and is made of actual stones from Normandy.
In order to complete your visit to this cache, please send the following answer to VeteranTributes. Standing facing the two stones, look at the flagpole to your right. What year was the flagpole dedicated?
This is an easy cache, so take your time and visit the community of Bedford. Walking tour brochures and other information can be found at: Information Kiosk at Centertown Park (just one block west of the cache at the corner of Main & Bridge Streets...behind the clock) and at the Bedford Welcome Center at 817 Burks Hill Road, at the base of the National D-Day Memorial. Also, try to make time to visit the National D-Day Memorial on Burks Hill Road (off of Route 122). More information is available at www.dday.org
NOTE: This cache can be found at no charge! The site of this cache is on Bedford County Government property, NOT at the National D-Day Memorial...I simply mentioned the National Memorial above in case someone is interested in visiting it. HAPPY NO-COST HUNTING!