D-Day Memorial - Bedford, VA

March 19 - our home school group headed to Bedford, VA to see the D-Day Memorial. The theme that runs through the memorial is "Valor, Fidelity and Sacrifice. We started out in a tent full of educational information.  Our educational guide talked to us about World War II, what it was like to be a soldier and what it was like on the home front.  They focused on the European War since the Infantry Division 116 came from Bedford and suffered such great losses.

German soldier's uniform.

C-rations.  World War II's MRE's (Meals-Ready-to-Eat).  

Some of the girls demonstrating.

R. showing what a soldier would carry with him.

Our educational guide with a knife.

R. with more equipment a soldier might carry.  One of the problems was if a soldier fell into the water with all his pack on it was very hard to get up.

The memorial is divided into three main areas: Planning, the Battle and the Victory.  The area representing Planning was in the form of a formal garden since they used a mansion. Busts of all the major military leaders surrounded the garden area.

The formal garden has the same shape and colors as the D-Day shield, except the black is replaced with green grass.

The shield.  The rainbow represents the many nations that participated.

Bronze plaques are everywhere.  This one shows the layout of the D-Day beaches and the battle plans.  Hardly any troops were actually at their assigned places but it did reduce the number of expected fatalities.

From the Planning area we went up the Battle area . The right side lists all the USA soldiers who died and on other side...

lists all the soldiers who died from other nations with flags of those nations.

The water was not in the reflecting pool yet, so I plan to take the kids to the memorial again.  Apparently the fountains mimic the sounds and actions of the gun fire.  If you get wet, you've been shot.  The big X thing is something the enemy put in the water to thwart ships.

This soldier represented valor.

These soldiers represented fidelity.  

This soldier represents sacrifice and the soldier he represents actually had a Bible that fell out on the sand.  The sand at the memorial is actual D-Day beach sand.

These soldiers climbing the wall represent valor, fidelity and sacrifice and the heroic climb that many soldiers made to take over the enemy positions.  Above was the third part of the memorial the Victory area.

Here is the Victory Arch.  The colors on the top represent markings on the airplanes used to make them different from the enemy airplanes.  Flags of the participating nations surround the arch plaza.

A reminder that when a soldier died they tried to bury the body with gun, helmet and dog tags.

Another representation of valor, fidelity and sacrifice.

I am reminded by our visit to the D-Day Memorial is that it is important for us to stop and remember the sacrifices of those who came before us for liberty and the many great blessings we enjoy.

After we finished up at the memorial we headed over to Liberty Park for lunch and playtime.  We forgot bread for our egg salad sandwiches so we ate them on potato chips.  B. decided she likes it and thinks we should do it all the time.

A lovely, shady shelter.

A colorful play structure.

C.

On the way home we decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway to Floyd, VA.  I had never gone that way before.  I knew it would take longer and I promised the girls ice cream at the Country Store.  We drove and drove. There are not many turn offs from the Blue Ridge Parkway and I was getting worried that we had somehow missed the turn. Fortunately the girls fell asleep and didn't notice how long it was taking. I saw a sign for Rocky Knob and figured if I didn't find route 8 by the time I got to Rocky Knob I better stop and find out where I was.  Fortunately route 8 showed up right before Rocky Know and we made our way to Floyd and the Country Store.

 Yummy ice cream!  Worth the wait.