Rural community honors vets
with National D-Day Memorial
By Kia snant e Breaux
The Associated Press
BEDFORD, Va. — Thousands of
veterans, along with friends and
relatives of fallen soldiers,
watched the unveiling Monday of
a portion of the National D-Day
Memorial being built in Bedford,
which lost two-thirds of its sol
diers in the June 1944 invasion.
“I think there are a few days in
our history that should never be
forgotten,” Jeannie Schulz told
about 4,000 people who endured
chilly, intermittent rain to witness
the Memorial Day dedication of a
portion of the $12 million shrine.
“Perhaps at times we have too
many monuments, too many holi
days and things of this kind, but
D-Day is not one of them. It is one
of the days we should never for
get.”
Schulz, widow of “Peanuts”
cartoonist and World War II veter
an Charles Schulz, took over as
campaign chairman of the Nation
al D-Day Foundation after her hus
band died in February.
The memorial, now partially
completed, honors the 6,603
Americans killed along the coast
of France in the D-Day invasion of
Nazi-held Europe-during World
War II. A total of 9,758 Allied sol
diers died.
The D-Day invasion hit this ru
ral farming community, with a
population of 3,200 in 1944, hard
er than most. Nineteen of its 35
soldiers died during the first 15
minutes of the invasion, four more
in the following days. The com
munity in southwest Virginia,
about 25 miles east of Roanoke,
had the most casualties per capita
of any U.S. community.
Dedication of the completed
memorial is scheduled for June 6,
2001, the 57th anniversary of the
invasion. Showcased at Monday’s
Memorial Day ceremony were a
granite arch and a sculpture,
“Death on Shore,” depicting a
lone fallen soldier on the beach
with a Bible falling out of his back
pack.
The family of Bedford and Ray
mond Hoback, brothers from Bed
ford killed on D-Day, unveiled the
statue with Lt. Gov. John Hager.
City officials and dignitaries
from Normandy laid wreaths at
the foot of the sculpture as a band
softly played taps.
Two other sculptures, “Final
Tribute,” showing an inverted ri
fle with a helmet resting on its
stock, and “Across the Beach,” de
picting a soldier dragging a
wounded colleague, were un
veiled earlier. A total of 10 sculp
tures are planned for the site.
Also featured at Monday’s cere
mony was a black and white gran
ite arch inscribed with the word
“Overlord” — the Allied Forces
code name for the Normandy
landing. The arch stands 44 feet, 6
inches high to represent June 6,
1944. The colors are the same as
the Allied Forces’ airplanes dur
ing the attack.
Schulz and Hager cut the ribbon
in front of the arch and statue to
thunderous applause from the
crowd, and flags of the 13 Allied
nations were raised.
During the ceremony, five D
Day veterans shared their recollec
tions of the invasion.
Bob Slaughter of Roanoke,
chairman of the D-Day founda
tion, recalled scurrying across
Omaha Beach amid heavy gunfire
and then pausing to clean his rifle.
“It was then that I began to ex
amine the extent of the hammer
ing we had taken,” he said. “It was
there that I realized the bloodied
price that we would pay for free
dom.”
A contribution from “Saving
Private Ryan” director Steven
Spielberg will be used to build a
theater at the memorial. It will be
named for the director’s father,
Arnold Spielberg, a World War II
veteran who flew Army Air Corps
missions as a radio operator in
Burma. Also planned was an edu
cation center about D-Day.
Seeing the progress of the me
morial was a dream come true for
many D-Day veterans.
“I think this is terrific,” said 75
year-old George Tate of Mechan
icsville, who fought at Normandy
on D-Day. “It doesn’t bring any
body back, but it helps. It was a
terrible thing for this town, so I
think this is an appropriate place
for this memorial.”
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