I think it was virtually the entire HS graduating class of Lynchburg Va. that were casualties.
Then there’s the boating accident off Scotland training for the invasion. The info came out in the late 90’s. That’s 50+ years afterward. A couple thousand drowned. Worth it? Musta been republicans running the operation. We did win ultimately.
Exercise Tiger
U-boats surprised a group of fully manned and outfitted landing craft.
I think you might be referring to Bedford, VA.
A book titled “The Beford Boys” chronicles how so many people from one small Virginia town all ended up in Company A, of the 116 Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division.
They were the first company to hit the Dog Green Sector of Omaha Beach on D-Day.
A National D-Day Museum is in Bedford, VA to commemorate their sacrifice.
I watched a documentary last night about a training mission about a month before the invasion. Our men were put on landing boats which sailed up the English coast and put ashore on a previously scouted beach. A nearby town was evacuated in advance. While they were being put ashore, they were being shot at by our own troops to simulate the German defenders.
An hour in advance, other ships were to begin shelling the beach to soften up any “opposition”. For some reason, the command to land the troops was given TWO HOURS EARLY, and the ships slated to shell the beach were not told.
So after the troops were landed, after enduring landing under fire with the “defenders” using Live ammunition, the ships started shelling the beach right on top of our men, killing many.
In the meantime the Germans discovered what was going on and sent motor torpedo boats from the French coast, which started attacking the troop transports. It turned into a big disaster, and to this day the exact number of our men that were killed is not really known.
“I think it was virtually the entire HS graduating class of Lynchburg Va. that were casualties.”
You’re thinking of Bedford, Virginia the little town that, per capita, lost more men on D-Day than any other in the country. It was for that reason the National D-Day Memorial was built there.
If you’re ever near Bedford stop in and see the Memorial. It’s well worth the time.
Close. You’re thinking of Bedford, Virginia.
“Bedford lost more residents per capita in the Normandy landings than any other American community. Nineteen soldiers from Bedford, whose 1944 population was about 3,200, were killed on D-Day. Three other Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign. Proportionally this community suffered the nation’s most severe D-Day losses.”