D-Day Memorial, Part 1

After visiting family in Virginia, I decided to avoid my usual route back to Maryland and instead take a course that went through Bedford, where I could visit the D-Day Memorial.  The memorial is located there because the town suffered the highest per capita losses on D-Day of any community in the United States.

Visitors to the Memorial may go on a guided tour, or walk around at their leisure.  Either way, the recommended starting point is the Reynolds Garden, the Memorial's northernmost section.  This area includes a sculpture of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, France.  To the right in this picture is a bust of British Field Marshall Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, one of six Allied commanders thus portrayed.

This sword-shaped structure is designed to make the Garden resemble the SHAEF shoulder patch, worn by the the invasion's planners.  In the background are the flags of all the countries that participated in the landings, along with the Overlord Arch.

Here's another shot of the Eisenhower statue and its rotunda, showing part of the "sword", from a different angle.

These plaques commemorate the contributions of the alumni of the United States Military Academy at West Point (L), Virginia Polytechnic Institute (C) and the Virginia Military Institute (R).  During the war years, VPI, a.k.a. Virginia Tech, had not yet added "and State University" to its name and was primarily a military school.

In the Beach Tableau as seen from the Gray Plaza, statues represent soldiers advancing through the surf, moving on the beach, dead on the beach, or scaling a wall.  The Plaza is a large area in the center of the Memorial.

East of the Beach Tableau is the Maurice T. Lawhorn Circle, dedicated to recognizing the contributions of the Allied air forces.  Standing in this Circle is an Aeronca L-3 (or maybe L-3B) "Grasshopper" surveillance plane.

There will be more to see in Part 2.  Meanwhile, more on the D-Day Memorial can be found at the Encyclopedia Virginia and Roadside America.