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Tribute to Sacrifice & Victory:
The National D-Day Memorial
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The National D-Day Memorial
6:30 am, June 6, 2000 |
On July 21, 2000, Tribute to Sacrifice & Victory: The National D-Day Memorial, premiered on Blue Ridge PBS. This documentary, produced by award winning videographer Carol Jennings, follows the building of the Overlord Arch and Victory Plaza at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, which was dedicated on Memorial Day, 2000. Tribute to Sacrifice and Victory is being distributed to PBS stations for broadcast nationwide by NETA, the National Educational Telecommunications Association.
However, the story is not yet complete. Blue Ridge PBS has continued to follow the progress of construction at the National D-Day Memorial. Part two of Tribute to Sacrifice & Victory: The National D-Day Memorial will chronicle the building of the reflecting pools and invasion scene on the middle plaza through to the dedication on June 6, 2001 and beyond. Plans are currently under way to air the program in November.
Special thanks to the Beirne Carter Foundation for underwriting production costs, and to Architectural Concrete Products of Daleville and Coleman-Adams Construction, Inc. for their support of Tribute to Sacrifice & Victory: The National D-Day Memorial.
June 6, 1944. D-Day was the turning point in World War II--the decisive battle that spelled the beginning of the end for Hitler's dream of Nazi domination of the world. The Normandy invasion, code named Overlord, was the largest air, land, and sea landing ever undertaken and included 5,333 ships, almost 11,000 air planes, 50,000 military vehicles and over 175,000 soldiers. The landing resulted in 9,758 casualties for the Allied forces, including 6,603 for the United States.
Virginia and Bedford are forever linked with D-Day, the symbol of America's sacrifice. The Virginia National Guard, the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division, was one of the two first assault regiments on Omaha Beach, scene of the bloodiest fighting on D-Day. The 116th regiment sustained 797 casualties.
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In 1944 Bedford, Virginia, had a population of only 3,200. It was the home location for Company A of the 116th Infantry Regiment. Of the 170-soldier company, 91 men died, 63 were wounded and only 15 were able to continue fighting. Of 35 Bedford soldiers, 19 died in the invasion's first fifteen minutes and two more died later in the day. War historians say that the 21 deaths from the Town of Bedford were the highest per-capita loss from any single community in the United States.
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The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford is being built as a symbol to the valor, fidelity and sacrifices of the Allied Armed forces who landed in Normandy in 1944. Ground for the memorial was broken on Veterans Day, 1997. On June 6, 2001, the memorial was dedicated to the nation and the world before an audience of thousands. President George W. Bush delivered the keynote address.
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