(NEXSTAR) — Bedford, Virginia, is a small town of fewer than 7,000 people nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
As in many small towns in the 1940s, the corner drugstore was the place to be. But on July 17, 1944, it was the spot where everything changed in a matter of minutes.
Ken Parker of the Bedford Boys Tribute Center related the message as it came over the Western Union teletype machine six weeks after the D-Day invasion during World War II. “‘Good morning, Bedford. We have casualties.’ That truly was the day that Bedford fell on its knees,” said Parker.
In time, the town of just 3,200 would learn that 20 young men died in the D-Day invasion, the nation’s highest known per-capita D-Day loss.
“Had it been New York City that suffered the same per capita loss, New York City’s casualty rate would have been 46,000 men,” said Gerry McCloskey, also of the Bedford Boys Tribute Center.
That corner drugstore is now home to the Bedford Boys Tribute Center — founded five years ago by Ken and Linda Parker.
The couple — from Oklahoma City — had been researching D-Day ahead of their planned trip to Normandy for the 75th anniversary when they discovered the heroism of the Bedford Boys.
“It was such a gripping, gripping story of the sacrifice of a small little town,” Ken Parker said.
So instead of going to Normandy, they moved to Bedford and opened the tribute center.
Inside the Bedford Boys Tribute Center is a collection of the personal effects of the famed “Bedford Boys,” a group of 20 young soldiers who lost their lives in an instant on D-Day. From their childhood to their service in the Virginia National Guard, the center honors the legacy and sacrifice of the soldiers.
“Taylor Fellers, the captain of the Bedford Boys, was my uncle, my mother’s oldest brother,” said Elizabeth Beverly, Capt. Taylor Fellers’ niece. Captain Taylor Fellers was 29 years old when he led Company A onto the beaches of Normandy.
“He knew that it was a very important job that they were doing. And I’m convinced that he knew, when they went to Omaha Beach, that they would not return,” Beverly said.
Elizabeth Beverly never met her uncle. “But I always knew him because he was a part of every family conversation; every gathering, we remembered Taylor,” she added.
Alongside Captain Fellers were twin brothers Roy and Ray Stevens.
“One of the questions I asked Roy, ‘What stuck out in your mind that day and what do you remember the most?’ He said, ‘The noise was just overwhelming.'” said David Stevens, their nephew.
Ray and Roy both landed on the beaches of Normandy. Roy survived. Ray did not.
“A lot of men made the ultimate sacrifice, this community did. And one of the sayings I’ve heard Roy say is, ‘Freedom isn’t free,'” Stevens noted.
Stevens believes their history needs to be told — especially to younger generations. “What they did and the sacrifice they made is amazing,” he said.
And now these families — and the public — have a place to remember the sacrifices of the Bedford Boys for generations to come.