D-Day Memorial

           One stop on my recent bus tour trip was in Bedford, Virginia at the D-Day Memorial. 

I had passed the sign several times but had never stopped. It was truly an emotional journey to recall that historic and deadly day back on June 6, 1944. The Memorial started out as just a statue to honor those who died that day and the project took off by leaps and bounds. The original location was to be Roanoke, Va. but it was later decided that Bedford would be the most likely place. Bedford has long claimed to have had the most killed that day per capita than any other city in America. 

Our tour guide walked us over the three plazas, a goodly little walk for us older folks, I might say. 
The first plaza denotes the planning stage for the Invasion at Normandy. There are bust statues of the men involved and a covered life-size statue of Gen. Eisenhower who was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. 

Plaza 2 reflects the landing and fighting and features the 'invasion pool' and sculptures of soldiers struggling to reach shore and also to crest the high cliffs. There is intermittent burst of water in the pool as 'bullets' are fired. 

Plaza 3 celebrates the victory of the invasion, who had the code name OVERLORD, with a 44' tall arch and the 12 flags of the Allied nations that served in the Allied Expeditionary Forces. 

The site was dedicated on June 6, 2001 by President George W. Bush. One of the biggest donors for the project was Charles Schultz who gave one million dollars. Steven Spielberg was also a large donor. 

If you are ever in that area, please go by and pay your tribute to those who fought and those who died on D-Day. 

Linking today with Willy Nilly Friday and Five On Friday