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The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-day Sacrifice

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June 6, 1944 has been written about extensively by American authors almost from the moment it happened. The invasion to free western Europe has filled perhaps more pages than any other event in history. Beyond books, D-Day has been the subject of more movies than one can count. Among the most famous films about D-Day was The Longest Day and a generation later Saving Private Ryan. What else can be said about the invasion of Europe?

Somehow, the story of the young men from Beford, Virginia has been overlooked. When you read the book you'll ask the same question I did....Why didn't Stephen Spielberg make his movie about WWII using this story instead of the fictional story of Private Ryan. When you read the Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw you'll ask the same question.

Bedford, Virginia is a small blue ridge mountain town of 3000. Before WWII jobs were scarce. Most of the men of the town joined the national guard unit to augment their meager incomes. Most earned a dollar a day for the days they trained. When the war started their unit became part of the 116th Infantry, one of the most battered units in Europe. On D-Day twenty-one of Bedford's sons would die on the beaches of Normandy. No other town of any size would suffer such a devastating loss. Twenty-one sons, brothers, fathers, boyfriends all lost; lost as completely as anyone can be lost....erased with the sweep of an hour hand. It boggles the mind even today nearly 60 years later.

Alex Kershaw does a wonderful job of bringing these young men to life. These young soldiers aren't just characters on the stage of history. As you learn about them, wome in more detail than the others, they become real people. The book follows them from prewar Bedford, through training, and on the a blood stained beach in France. The book is brutal. The book is poetic. You won't soon forget it.

The Bedford Boys is well researched. While Kershaw's coverage of the landings is strong on details it is never the less accurate. He uses the narratives of the few survivors to great effect.

If your a student of history you'll most assuredly want to read this book. It is a landmark story.

Alex Kershaw's "The Bedford Boys" is about people. It is a history of what war does to individuals and those left behind. We are told that 5,000 Americans died on June 6, 1944, D-Day, but that is a statistic. This narrative is about folks who died trying to cross the beach code named Omaha  Bloody Omaha. It is the names that make this volume uniquely harrowing, singularly distressing, exceptionally depressing. It is similar to the effect Maya Lin's Vietnam War Memorial in Washington has on people, 58,000 names memorialized in polished stone. Touch a name; contact a soul.
Bedford, Va, lost a higher percentage of its sons on D-Day than any community in America and that is the main reason the National D-Day Memorial was dedicated in the tiny village of Bedford in June, 2001. But 56-years of time and the presence of the president of the United States were not enough to salve the losses on Omaha Beach. Mothers and fathers were emotionally wounded by their losses, siblings permanently disheartened, widows and fiancees everlastingly scarred. Mr. Kershaw's book relentlessly reminds us that war is about humans.
The Bedford boys were shaped by the Depression, and the young men of Company A of the first Battalion of the 116th Regiment of the 29th Division had joined the National Guard in the 1930s for social purposes and also for the essential dollar-a-day they were paid when they were in training once each month and for two weeks in the summer. Many other Bedford inhabitants  more than 1500  served in the armed services during World War II, but Company A was special. These men had grown up, gone to school, played baseball, and worked together, dated each other's sisters, trained and deployed as a group, and were in the first wave to assault Omaha Beach at H Hour on June 6.
Of the 28 troops from Bedford who left the landing craft, 22 were killed, most before they reached the sand, by murderous machine gun fire. Nine others also from Bedford did not reach the beach: five because their landing craft sunk on the way to shore and four others who were in support capacity and did not get ashore on D-Day.
Mr. Kershaw tells of the men trying to swim or wade with packs of more than 60 pounds on their backs, desperate to get ashore while the Germans from barely damaged bunkers and pillboxes laced the beaches with deadly fire: "The Germans had cut Company A to ribbons but they were not satisfied. They now riddled wounded men with arms outstretched in supplication. They peppered soldiers who could not crawl and American teenagers risking their own lives to save them. The . . . machine gunners shot rescuers in the back. Snipers aimed for the forehead." In all,102 men from Company A were killed in the first wave, about one third of the company.
In time, these horrors were brought to Bedford. Back home, the letters stopped a few days before June 6, and when correspondence did not start again soon after the sixth, families agonized over the lack of news.
Elizabeth Teass, one of the town's few telegraph operators, six weeks later "switched on the teletype machine." She read "We have casualties," and read the "first line of copy. 'The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret.'" Elizabeth had seen these words before, about once each week, but this time the machine did not stop. "Line after line of copy clicked out of the printer. . . ."
Mothers, fathers, wives learned from Western Union that day, and on other days soon thereafter of the death of Leslie Abbot, Wallace Carter, John Clifton, John Dean, Frank Draper, Jr., Taylor Fellers, Charles Fizer, Nicholas Gillespie, Bedford Hoback, Raymond Hoback, Clifton Lee, Earl Parker, Joseph Parker, Jack Powers, Weldon Rosazza, John Reynolds, John Shenck, Ray Stevens, Gordon White, John Wilkes, Elmer Wright, Grant Yopp. Every name spoke trauma and tragedy.
Understand this about D-Day, dear reader. The air bombardment of German fortifications was crucial, even if not as effective as hoped, and the naval attack on German defenses was essential, even if it did not silence most of the German guns, but at H-Hour when the landing craft lowered their ramps the success or failure of the greatest amphibious attack in the history of warfare, the event upon which the success of the Allied effort in World War II depended, all came down to the Bedford Boys and thousands of men like them scrambling in chest high water, weighed down with equipment and ammunition, and the water they splashed into was crimson with their blood and that of their buddies. And they advanced. Bless them all. Bless them all.

June 6, 1944. Many books have appeared about this famous date in history. However, none quite like this one. It details the town of Bedford Virginia and the lose of 22 of its young men in Normandy. No other town in America gave as much as Bedford.

The book starts in pre-war Bedford and follows the yong men from training through battle to coming home. Sadly, most never saw Bedford again. The research that went into the battle chapters is impressive. It is some of the best battle writing I have read.

Having grown up in a town like Bedford, I could understand the small town feeling the boys grew up in. I highly recommend this book. You will not soon forget it.

The town of Bedford says it is "the best little town in America," but there are surely other little towns that have the same boast. It is in southwestern Virginia near the Blue Ridge Mountains, and has one anomalous aspect that makes it different from all those other best towns. It is the site of the National D-Day Memorial. The memorial does not sit on the Mall in Washington, nor on the shores of Normandy. It is in this little town because, although thousands of soldiers perished in the D-Day assault, no other town gave as many of her sons. On 6 June 1944, nineteen Bedford boys died, and three more died in the days of follow-up fighting afterwards. There have been sufficient histories of D-Day already, but _The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice_ (Da Capo) by Alex Kershaw focuses the global events onto the personal level. Not only does it describe the horrendous slaughter on the Normandy beaches, but it also tells the effects of the losses on the families within Bedford. It is a sad tale, of course, but full of heroism on both sides of the Atlantic.

None of the boys would have said they had particularly volunteered for anything heroic. They were sons of the Depression, and many of them enlisted in the National Guard simply because of the money. They got a dollar for the one training day each month, and for each of the fourteen days in the summer. It was the luck of the draw that the Bedford boys were assigned to a company that had to experience the wickedest fighting of the most difficult assault of the day, on Omaha Beach. Before that, they crossed the Atlantic on the troop-converted _Queen Mary_, and the months before D-Day they spent in grueling training within England, the longest training of any American infantrymen in the war. There are good anecdotes here to tell the stories of these boys, many of whom were away from Bedford for the first time, and of course a harrowing account of the invasion itself. The most heartbreaking account is not of the boys' deaths, but of the reaction at home. The D-Day invasion was in the headlines, of course, but the families in Bedford knew little of their boys' participation in it. The letters stopped coming after 6 June, raising tensions in the town. Then letters to the soldiers started coming back in packs marked undeliverable. Finally, on 17 July, the telegrams started pouring in. Elizabeth Teass, on duty at the Western Union office at the rear of Green's Drugstore on 17 July, expected to be getting sad announcements as part of her job, but was in shock as the machine clacked on and on, one official "deep regret" after another.

Kershaw was writing about another project when he came across the Bedford story and realized it had not been told in full. He interviewed as many of the survivors as he could, and the family members still living; naturally, almost sixty years on, he has not gotten to interview all he would have wanted. He has documented meticulous research into official records and past books on the great assault, to make an account that is memorable for its degree of personal detail. D-Day was the greatest amphibious attack in the history of warfare. The Germans and the Allies both knew that the war would be won or lost on these beaches. It was the Bedford boys, and thousands of their counterparts, who made a difference and quite literally saved civilization. They deserve commemoration, and Kershaw's fine history brings them home to us again.

This is an utterly engrossing chronicle of one Virgina town's supreme sacrifice during the Normandy invasion. Bedford, VA lost 19 sons within minutes of their landing at Omaha Beach. Three more died later in the campaign. Among those to perish were two pairs of brothers. Five Bedford Boys --including one whose twin brother was among those cut down on the beach -- were spared when their landing craft sank on the approach to Normandy, and they narrowly survived the chilly, roiling Atlantic swells.

Bedford is very much a microcosim of America -- a sleepy town of 3,000 -- whose sons and their loved ones paid an inordinate price for freedom. The Bedford Boys never intended to be heroes -- or warriors, for that matter. (Most joined the National Guard in the 1930's for the few extra dollars to supplement Depression-era wages.) But heroes they became, and Alex Kershaw has paid them fine tribute with this vivid, heart-rending account of their experiences.

"The Bedford Boys" is a particularly timely read now, with young Americans once again being asked to bear the ultimate sacrifice.

Few dates in history have seen more tragedy than June 6, 1944. Thousands of American families and even entire towns grieved their losses after D-Day, but none more so than the tiny town and 3,000 inhabitants of Bedford, Virginia, who lost 19 of its' sons that fateful day and 3 more before the war would conclude. BEDFORD BOYS: ONE AMERICAN TOWNS ULTIMATE D-DAY SACRIFICE, by Alex Kershaw, tells their story. This book, unlike most others on the account of D-Day, tells the story of the Normandy invasion from the viewpoint of the families left behind.

Much of the book chronicles the lives of the young men prior to the invasion. Particularly, the year they spent together station in England, preparing for the invasion. Kershaw recounts their stories through photographs, letters home, and interviews with survivors and family members.

When the day of the invasion arrives, Kershaw gives concise narrative as to how some of them survived, and how so many of them perished. Their story is riveting. You will laugh at their antics, and mourn at their sacrifices. This is a very well written account and should serve to remind all Americans of the cost of freedom.

They went into battle as the Boys of Bedford, and boys they were, indeed, but in my eyes, they will forever be the MEN from Bedford, Virginia.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

Rural Bedford, Virginia, suffered the highest per capita D-Day casualty rate of any American town. Nineteen of its residents, or residents of Bedford County, in which the town is located, were killed at bloody Omaha Beach on that longest day, the first day of the Allied Normandy invasion. Three more residents were killed within the next few days. These Bedford soldiers were members of Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division--the first troops to go ashore on H-Hour at Omaha Beach. The book is well written, a balance of contextualizing historical narrative and oral history of survivors and relatives. This work is not a history of D-Day, nor of the Omaha Beach attack, nor of the Normandy campaign--nor is it designed to be, there are other books which deal with these larger topics. Rather the author skillfully narrates the story of the Bedford boys who joined the National Guard during the Depression to earn a few extra dollars, were called into federal service and endured extended training in the U.S. before deployment to England for the invasion of France. The author portrays an emotionally compelling story of the devastating effects of the loss of so many sons, husbands, lovers, and fellow soldiers by the people of Bedford, reminding us both of the horror of war, its brutal and lasting effects, as well as the unfortunate fact that at times it may be necessary for the liberation of the oppressed and the preservation of freedom. Anne Frank, whose family in hiding learned of D-Day by their radio, entered in her diary that "the best part of the invasion is that I have the feeling that friends are approaching." (Bedford Boys, page 170) Today Bedford is the home of the National D-Day Memorial, a site well worth visiting, as is the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. The valor and sacrifice of those young men who perished so quickly in the massive D-Day invasion cries out to be remembered by every generation of Americans and citizens of the free world--especially since soon there will be no living survivors of D-Day, with the death each day of thousands of World War II veterans. This book, this D-Day Memorial, this D-Day Museum, and the lives of these brave young men and their families from rural Virginia, deserve a remembrance wherever that perpetual vigilance which is the price of liberty is honored. It was Erwin Rommel who called D-Day the longest day. And it is this day, and every day in which great sacrifices are made for freedom, from the American Revolution to soldiers today bravely defending freedom around the world, that deserves the longest of memories.

Wow. As an avid reader of World War II history, this book stands out with the likes of "Band of Brothers" and "Flags of Our Fathers" as one of the greats. This book appealed to me on several levels. First and foremost, I'm a living historian with the 29th Infantry Division re-enactment group and therefore have special feelings for that particular units sacrifice on D-Day. Also, I used to go to college twenty miles from Bedford, so I could relate to things like climbing Sharp Top mountain and strolling through the town. Other than that, the story pretty much sells itself. It's hard not to fall in love with the Bedford boys with all of the anecdotes and intimate stories that Kershaw tells in the book. The writing is crisp and sucks you in to the point where you really feel like you're there, struggling with them. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still gasped a few times. In short, if you're a World War II buff or just someone who appreciates the cost of freedom, you should definitely grab this book. It's well-written, factually correct, and tugs at the heart -- just the way a good history book should. 29th, Let's Go!

This book is easy to read, accurate (but for use of a few terms) and engrossing. As a 20 year member of the 116th Infantry Regiment, former unit historian and current librarian, this is the single best book I know of about this unit and "The Bedford Boys" from 1940 to 1945.

A related book is "Eyewitness on Omaha Beach" by Dr. Harold Baumgarten.

Many readers may wonder why so many books about D-day are published and why so much more attention is paid to that battle than other battles in World War II. Certainly we landed on other hostile shores during the war, i.e. Tarawa, Salerno, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Certainly we had fought the Germans already by D-Day in North Africa, in Sicily and in Italy so why is D-Day so special? The War in the Pacific was a war of self defense and revenge for Pearl Harbor and Bataan. We fought the Japanese for the most part on islands in the Pacific that most Americans had never heard of that were populated with little or no indigenous culture and certainly without a legacy of Freedom and Liberty. In Italy even though most Italians were grateful for us evicting the Germans we still were fighting a country that had at one point sided with Hitler and declared war on us. When we landed in North Africa we were occupying a French colony that had decided to side with the Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime.

Overlord of which D-Day was the first day however was different. Here we were liberating a proud people with one of the most advanced civilizations in the world who had not wanted war and who had been conquered and brutally subjugated by the Nazis. And although ultimately it was in our best interests to beat the Germans we didn't have to storm the shores so quickly to do so. We could have done what so many wished us to do and bomb Germany into annihilation and peck away at their empire on it's fringes while letting the Red Army grind down the Wehrmact. Instead we flung our soldiers against the Atlantic wall and assaulted Festung Europa.

These men were not professional, rather they were Citizen Soldiers. They were there because they had been drafted or because they had joined out of a sense of Duty. There were also those who had joined the National Guard before the war because they needed the extra money to survive the Depression and because their friends and brothers had joined also. When the National Guard was inducted into Federal Service in 1940 these men were taken away from their families and their homes and jobs and then eventually sent overseas.

Therefore the unique significance of D-day is the story of a peaceful enslaved people being liberated by a peace loving bunch of citizens with no direct stake in the oppressed people's fate. And these citizen Soldiers undertook this struggle without complaining and with great heroism. President Franklin Roosevelt summed it up in his prayer address to the nation on D-Day:

"...Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity."

"...For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home."


The cost of that heroism was very high however, especially on Omaha Beach which was one of the biggest bloodbaths in American history. The cemetery above stands in mute testimony. Now many people have seen Saving Private Ryan which is a great movie. The opening scene takes place on a sector of Omaha Beach called Dog Green. That twenty minute scene is one of the most harrowing in the history of film.

Now imagine that in reality it was far worst than depicted in the movie and lasted not twenty minutes but five hours. That was the real Dog Green. And one of the units that landed on that beach was Company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th infantry division. Out of the 192 men that landed that day less than 10 members of the company could report for evening roll call. The rest had been killed or wounded. Over twenty of the members of Co. A came from the small town of Bedford, Virginia. Within minutes of the beginning of the battle over a dozen of the Bedford Boys were killed and by the end of the day a total of twenty one had been killed.


This book is the story of those men and the town they lived in and how they grew up in the Depression and went to war and how the war affected that town.

It is a great book. It is not necessary to be a knowledgeable student of military history to get everything from the book. Indeed the author makes a few very minor factual errors himself in the story which in no way detract from it. (He states twice that the pre-war US army was only 75,000 men. in fact it was about 140,000. He also mentions in one point armor piercing howitzers. Howitzers use indirect fire to lob high explosive, incendiary and smoke rounds; they do not fire armor piercing rounds- anti-tank guns do.) These two errors aside which many will not even notice this book is a highly accurate, emotionally packed well written powerhouse. Although I have read hundreds of books on WW2 and at least 20 on D-day I still could not put this down. Definitely one of my favorites