|
|
|
The views expressed on this page are soley
those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the views of County
News Online
|
 |
Forget D-Day? Not here.
By Susan Olling
On 05 June, an article appeared on CNO about the 75th anniversary of
D-Day and how it mustn’t be forgotten. In our part of Virginia,
it would be difficult to forget what happened on 06 June 1944.
Bob Slaughter was a member of Company D of the National Guard’s
116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, a unit that was part of the
Normandy landings on 06 June. In 1994, while visiting Normandy,
Mr. Slaughter discussed with the president how D-Day was being
forgotten. When Mr. Slaughter returned to Virginia, he started
the fundraising to build an appropriate memorial. One of the
first donors was Charles Schulz (remember Snoopy going to spend
Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day to quaff root beers with Bill
Mauldin?). The Town of Bedford offered eleven acres for the
memorial, probably the most appropriate town in the country in which to
build a memorial to D-Day. Bedford, with a population of about
3,200 in 1944, lost more residents per capita than any other
community on 06 June. The memorial was dedicated in September
2001. It’s well worth a look. And a visit.
As you drive up to the memorial, you’ll see an arch forty-four feet, six inches tall with “Overlord” engraved at the top.
The memorial is designed to follow, chronologically, the three
important phases of Operation Overlord. Before entering the
spaces, visitors pass Homage, a statue showing a GI standing by a
battlefield grave. The invasion’s planning/preparation phase is
found in the Richard S. Reynolds Sr. Garden. This space is
designed as an English garden. In the folly stands a statue of
General Eisenhower in the pose made famous from the famous photograph
of a conversation between the General and a paratrooper. On the
ceiling of the folly is a replica of the battle map used for the
invasion. The original map covered a wall in one of the rooms in
Southwick House, the headquarters for SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters
Allied Expeditionary Force). The map was created by Chad
Valley, a British toymaker. The employees were told they were
making a giant jigsaw puzzle. The map included the area
between northern Norway and Spain. When the map pieces were
complete, they were taken to Southwick House and put together by two
carpenters. These gentlemen had to stay at Southwick House until
after the invasion to make sure secrecy was maintained. On either
side of a boxwood hedge are busts of Eisenhower’s lieutenants: Air
Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder (deputy supreme commander), Admiral Bertram
Ramsey (commanded the naval phase of the landings), Lieutenant General
Omar Bradley (commanded U.S. ground forces), Field Marshal Bernard
Montgomery (D-Day assault commander). Air Chief Marshal Trafford
Leigh-Mallory (commander of Allied air forces) and Lieutenant General
Bedell Smith (General Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff).
Admiral Ramsey and Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory were killed in
airplane crashes before World War II ended, The SHAEF patch has
been re-created in the garden.
The Elmon T. Gray Plaza shows the landing and fighting stages of the
invasion. Along the interior walls of the plaza are bronze
necrology tablets. One wall contains the names of 2,501 Americans
who were killed on D-Day. The other wall contains the names of 1,913
Allied dead. This memorial is one of the few places where Allied
dead from D-Day are included. The plaza is split into five
sections to represent the five invasion beaches. Visitors look
across to see a replica of a German bunker to get an idea of what the
soldiers who were landing on those beaches saw. A
reflecting pool contains a replica of a Higgins boat with its ramp
down. Sculptures show valor, fidelity and
sacrifice. An L-3 observation plane, or “grasshopper” has
recently returned to the memorial. It was refurbished by Liberty
University’s School of Aviation. The only thing that had to be
done was to repaint the black and white stripes on the wings.
During the invasion of Italy, American aircraft were shot down by their
naval brethren in rather large numbers. On D-Day, all Allied
aircraft had stripes painted on the wings:
white-black-white-black-white. This striping was also to let
ground troops know which aircraft over their heads were friendly.
The memorial’s grasshopper got its stripes before the 06 June 2019.
The Robey W. Estes Plaza is the upper level of the memorial. This
plaza celebrates the breaching of Festung Europa (Fortress Europe) and
consolidating the Allies’ foothold in France. The Overlord arch
along with flags of the twelve allied countries who participated on
D-Day. Following the flag of United States, they are (in
alphabetical order): Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia,
France, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and the
United Kingdom. A sculpture called Final Tribute with an
inverted rifle and helmet and a hanging dog tag is also part of
the plaza. Visitors also get a beautiful view of the Peaks of
Otter.
Visitors can spend quite a bit of time reading all of the plaques in
the memorial. There are four of particular interest: the U.S.
Naval Academy (recently added), the U.S. Military Academy,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (AKA Virginia
Tech) and Virginia Military Institute. The Corp of Cadets at
Virginia Tech collects money at football games. The funds are
then forwarded to the memorial. Their first year members
visit early in the school year.
On 06 June 1944, 4,414 men died so that freedom wouldn’t.
The National D-Day Memorial is doing its part so that we don’t forget.
|
|
|
|
