Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy. On June 6, 1944, Operation Neptune, commonly known as D-Day, began.32 Virginia Guard Soldiers from Bedford's Company A, 116th Infantry, 29th Division were part of the first wave of more than 160,000 Allied troops that landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany and begin the march across Europe to defeat Hitler. Company A assaulted Omaha Beach on the west end as part of the First Division's Task Force O and by the end of the day, 19 of the company's Bedford Soldiers were dead and two more 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, and proportionally the community suffered the nation's most severe losses on D-Day, as well as all of World War II.

The Bedford County, Virginia Army National Guard soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice are:
SSgt Leslie C Abbott Jr., PFC Wallace R. Carter, PFC John D. Clifton, T/Sgt Frank Price Draper Jr., Capt Taylor Nicholas Fellers, PFC Nick N. Gillaspie, Pvt Bedford Turner Hoback, SSgt Raymond S. Hoback, Pvt Clifton G. Lee, SSG Earl L. Parker , PFC Jack G. Powers, PFC Weldon Antonio Rosazza, PFC John F. Reynolds, SSgt John B. Schenk, TSgt Ray O. Stevens, Master Sgt John L. Wilkes, SSgt Gordon H. White Jr., SSgt Elmere P. Wright, Sgt Grant C. Yopp

Overlord Synopsis and Links Courtesy of Greg Raike