The Bedford Boys; One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice

New York, NY: MJF BOOKS, 2003. Reprint Edition, Second printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Format is approximately 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches. xii, [2], 274 pages. Includes Acknowledgments, The Bedford Boys; and Maps. Also contains D-Day, H-360; Going to War; Moving Out; Cruel Seas; England's Own; "29, Let's Go!"; Slapton Sands; the Sausages; The Empire Javelin; The First Wave; Dog Beach; "Medic!"; Every Man Was a Hero; Bedford's Longest Day; Bocage; The Longest Wait; His Deep Regret; Coming Home; Memorial; The Bedford Boys and D-Day; Bibliography, Notes, and Index. Interweaving historical fact with firsthand accounts of survivors, vividly illustrated with portraits of the soldiers and scenes of Bedford, The Bedford Boys tells the compelling story of twenty-two young men living their prewar lives in a small, close-knit American town. Interweaving historical fact with firsthand accounts of survivors, vividly illustrated with portraits of the soldiers and scenes of Bedford, the Bedford Boys tells the compelling story of twenty-two young men living their prewar lies in a small, close-knit American town. Here are their friends and families and the girls they left behind. By focusing on a small town and several individuals and families, Alex Kershaw brings a crucial time in American history boldly to live. With one of the most heartrending stories of this great conflict, he brings World War II home. In The Bedford Boys, we are reminded of the human cost of war. Alex Kershaw (born 1966) is an English journalist, public speaker and the author of several best-selling books, including The Liberator, The First Wave, The Bedford Boys and The Longest Winter. Kershaw's journalism has appeared in many magazines and newspapers since 1990, varying from investigative pieces and reportage to interviews with subjects ranging from Frank Zappa, Alger Hiss and Gary Kasparov to the boxer Max Schmeling and dozens of World War II veterans. While writing a 2002 biography, Blood and Champagne, about Robert Capa, the celebrated war photographer, Kershaw came across the story of Bedford, Virginia and its sacrifice on D-Day, 6 June 1944, on Dog Green sector of Omaha beach. The resulting book, The Bedford Boys, 2003, became a New York Times bestseller. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: This accessible and moving group biography portrays the men of Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, who were part of the first wave at Omaha Beach in WWII. Initially, 103 of them left the small town of Bedford, Va.—now the site of the national D-Day memorial—when the local National Guard was called up in 1940; 34 were still with the company on D-Day. Of these, 19 died in a matter of minutes and three more perished in the Normandy campaign. Men lost ranged from the company commander, Captain Taylor N. Fellers, from a wealthy Bedford family, to Frank Draper Jr., a fine athlete and soldier from the wrong side of the tracks. Long-time National Guardsman John Wilkes died as the company's top sergeant, while Earl Parker left behind a daughter he never saw. Both Holback brothers and Ray Stevens died, while Ray's twin Roy Stevens was one of the handful of survivors. Kershaw includes combat sequences that give a vivid private's eye view of the particular hell that was Omaha Beach, while one of the most moving portions of the book is the simultaneous arrival in Bedford of nine "We regret to inform you..." telegrams. A capsule history of Bedford before the war, its role as part of the home front during it and its current place as memorial site are all covered, but the book's central focus is on the town where a good many survivors remain whose memories have not faded and whose emotional wounds have not healed.