National D-Day Memorial in Rural Virginia

June 6, 1944 is a date that rivals July 4, 1776, July 3, 1863, Dec. 7, 1941 as one of the greatest turning points in American history. The Allied landings on the Normandy Beaches ingrained the term D-Day in the consciousness of almost all Americans, British, French, and Canadians. As I prepare to take 26 high school students across the Atlantic to experience World War II. We are fortunate to live only 2 hours from the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. On an overcast, rainy Sunday afternoon in May we took some of our students to the Memorial to get a holistic picture of D-Day from those who planned it all the way to the marines who scaled Point-du-hoc.  Bedford lost more men proportionally than any other community in the country.  I highly recommend the book Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw and a trip to the National D-Day Memorial.