This is a story of unforeseen circumstances, of serendipity.
I ended up in Bedford VA last night. As chance would have it, the National D-Day memorial is located in Bedford, a small town in the Blue Ridge mountains of VA. I spent the morning at the memorial park. It was a powerful experience
Why Bedford? It’s because of The Bedford Boys. The town of 4,000 sent 35 young men off to war with a parade and much fanfare in early 1941. 23 never returned. They were part of the initial assault wave to hit Omaha beach. 19 were killed in the first 10 minutes. 4 more in the ensuing inland invasion. Bedford had the highest proportional losses of any town in the country. Hence the decision to built the memorial in this small town. The story of the Bedford Boys is tragic.
There are forces active in our country today that seek to erase and rewrite history, destroying memorials as they go. They are misguided, evil or both. I hope they don’t come for the D-Day memorial. There have been regimes in the modern era that have, to varying degrees of success, took action to erase and rewrite history, destroying buildings and artifacts of their history along the way. The Russian Communists, the Chinese Communists, the Khmer Rouge, are examples.
Our country’s history has been both glorious and uplifting as well as sad and tragic. But it is our history. Our history. It can not be undone. It should not be erased and rewritten. What happened to the Indians was tragic. Slavery was very bad. It when against our founding and fundamental principles of Liberty and Justice for all. “All men are created equal”. The southern “Lost Cause” movement was a specious narrative. There is no moral justification for slavery. But we need not allow our history to be erased and rewritten, and our memorials destroyed. If the south wants to honor the brave men that fought for what they wrongly thought was a righteous cause, we should let them. Unfortunately, the misguided and evil forces of active today have had some success. And governments of all levels have kowtowed to them in many cases. It’s sad. Our history happened. It can not be undone. We should remember the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Remember our History
Remember the Bedford Boys
Never Forget
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