The Bedford Boys: One Small Town’s D-Day Sacrifice
Alex Kershaw
2003 ISBN 0-7432-4847-3 Simon & Shuster

This is one of the best books I’ve read in quite a while, not only about World War II, but about the home front. I highly recommend it to anybody interested D-Day, World War II, or the sacrifices made by American soldiers and their families.

For anybody unfamiliar with Bedford, Virginia, it is the home of the National D-Day Memorial. The reason this small town was chosen was because of the extreme sacrifice made by the men of Bedford on D-Day, especially on Omaha Beach. Out of a population of some 3700 people in 1944 twenty two of twenty eight men who landed that day were lost.

The book takes the men from their enlistment in the Nation Guard, through their training in the United States, the trip across to England, their experiences as “England’s Own” for some 18 months in the UK, and finally Omaha Beach. As Company A, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, the troops are a microcosm of experiences of American G.Is in WWII. Many of the men joined the Guard only because of the badly needed money during the depression. The did come from a long line of American soldiers, with ancestors reaching back to the famous Stonewall Brigade of the American Civil War, and beyond. The troops had the experience of being transported on the liner Queen Mary, on the fateful crossing when the ship ran down the cruiser Curacao. Later they were on a training exercise at Slapton Sands two days before the disastrous Operation Tiger when German S-Bootes sank several LSTs with the loss of many men. Finally of course were their experiences on Omaha Beach as assault troops on June 6th.

My only complaint about the book is that the author falls into the same trap of so many who rely on the recollections of veterans. In the book every shell is from an 88mm, every bullet is from a MG-42.

Not only is the book about the men, but also their families back home. Bedford seems like a typical small town all across America. The reaction of towns people to the death of so many men is one of the most powerful things I’ve read in some time. One memorable scene is when the young women at the Western Union office who watches telegram after telegram come across the wire on one fateful day, notifying nine families on the same day of their loss.

While many books focus on the survivors of the war, this book tells the whole story, especially of those who did not return.

Once again I can highly recommend this book.

The Royal Navy called the cruiser Curacoa for some unknown reason.

Curacoa

David