The Town That Inspired "Saving Private Ryan"

On June 6, 1944, now famously known as D-Day

American military forces stormed the beaches of Normandy. 30 men from the town of Bedford, Virginia

were part of that attack, and 19 of them died. A handful more perished in the days that followed

Their tragic story would go on to inspire a cinematic masterpiece. So today, we're going to take a look

at how a Virginia town's massive single-day loss during World War II inspired the movie Saving Private Ryan

There were 30 soldiers from Bedford, Virginia, called the Bedford Boys, who were among the first men to set foot on the beaches of Normandy

On the morning of June 6, 1944, they loaded onto seven ships

And by the time it was all over, 19 of them had perished. Their families back home in Virginia had no way of knowing that their husbands, brothers, and sons were part of the D-Day landing

But a month later, notifications arrived. Western Union operator Elizabeth Teese received numerous telegrams requiring delivery and verification

She later recalled that some were delivered by an employee of the local drugstore

who usually delivered the telegrams in town. For the ones that had to be delivered outside of town

they got help from a local undertaker, sheriff, and doctor. Finally, Roy Israel, who operated the town's taxi service, volunteered to deliver the rest

In Teese's own words, Bedford was a quiet little town. everyone's heart was broken. At the time of the D-Day invasion, the population of Bedford

Virginia was about 3,200. Most of the residents in and around the small town located near the

Blue Ridge Mountains were farmers. The Great Depression was difficult for Bedford, and when

the enlisted men reported for active duty, it put an added strain on the farming community

When one of the Bedford boys, Dickie Overstreet, left for World War II, his father couldn't maintain

the family farm without him. Dickie's sister, Beulah, recalled how her father

had to work in a shipyard in Virginia to keep his 11 children fed

The men in Company A didn't know what the future held when enlisting. They first went to Florida and Maryland in 1940 and 1942

for training. Then at Fort Meade, they learned how to fire M1 Garand rifles, went on drills

and used radios and other military technology. As the months wore on, however, the boys from Bedford

became bored. They did get leave, rarely and never for more than two days, though

It was difficult to make the seven-hour trip home, but most of the men either found a way or their wives girlfriends and children came to them The 29th Division was in North Carolina during the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941

On December 8, Company A listened intently as President Franklin Roosevelt gave his now-famous speech about Pearl Harbor

State which will live in infamy. The once-bored and uncertain Bedford men knew their position had changed, and they were bound for action

The men didn't know whether they were off to the Pacific or to Europe, but either way

they spent the next 10 months in the United States running maneuvers off the East Coast

Finally, in September of 1942, they went to New Jersey, their last stop before heading out to

Europe. In September 1942, the 29th Infantry Division boarded the HMS Queen Mary and the HMS

Queen Elizabeth, luxury liners that were then being used for military transport to England

While making the trip, the Queen Mary collided with the HMS Curaçao

The Curaçao was to lead the Queen Mary into port. But as the transport vessel zigged and zagged to evade U-boat detection, the larger ship collided with it

Passenger Alfred Johnson later recalled that the Queen Mary sliced the cruiser in two

like a piece of butter, straight through the 6-inch armored plating. The Queen Mary, however, which was doing about 25 knots, just kept on going

It was the policy not to stop and pick up survivors, even if they were waving at you

It was too dangerous, as the threat of U-boats was always present. The Curaçao sank within minutes, and 338 of its crew perished

Nearby ships rescued 108 survivors, and the public would not learn about the incident until after the war had ended

The 29th Infantry Division endured the harsh winter of 1942 in England

There, they trained under the command of Major General Leonard Giroux, an army man determined to weed out any National Guardsmen who couldn't cut it

By spring, the men were camping outside in the moors, something they hated so much they wrote a song about it

The lyrics in part went, Oh, I'll go out on the moors again, but mind me and mark me well

I'll carry enough explosives to blow the place to hell. By September of 1943, it was clear

The 29th would front an upcoming offensive into Europe. Captain Taylor Fellers, the head of Company A

listened to plans for what would be D-Day, convinced few of his men would survive the strike

Men like Ray Nance joined the National Guard during the 1930s out of patriotism and a sense of duty

But the a month salary was also an incentive As the Great Depression raged cash money as he called it was a perk of having to train one night a week and two weeks during the summer

Nance joined the 29th Infantry Division along with men from throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia

but found himself surrounded by fellow Bedford men with Company A, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Subunit

Ray Stevens remembered how the men from Bedford were one big family

We dated each other's sisters, gone to the same schools, played baseball together, sometimes using a golf ball we wrapped up

And we were so young, he and his twin Roy joined within a week of each other in 1939

Roy and Ray Stevens were twin brothers from Bedford. As he and his brother boarded separate crafts on D-Day, Ray offered to shake his brother's hand

All of the men from Bedford were doing the same, wishing each other luck. Roy, however, refused, instead telling his twin

I'll shake your hand in Bir Ville-sur-Mer, up at the crossroads above the beach later this morning sometime

Ray replied that he wasn't going to make it, but Roy still refused. He felt determined to shake his brother's hand on the other side of the battle

Roy Stevens would be haunted by this memory for the rest of his life, because three days later, he would hear about his brother's demise from a medic

Struck in the stomach by enemy fire, Ray succumbed to his wounds on the shore

Ray and Roy Stevens weren't the only brothers from Bedford that were part of the invasion force

In fact, brothers Raymond and Bedford Hobat were together on the same craft

When they got to shore, machine guns took them out quickly. They died alongside their commander, Captain Taylor Fellers, and the rest of the men aboard their ship

According to their sister, Lucille Boggess, who was 14 years old at the time

their parents never recovered from the loss of her brothers. Recalling how her family received the news, she said

We were getting ready to go to church on Sunday, and the sheriff brought the first telegram

The second telegram was delivered by a cab driver. Raymond's remains were never found, though his Bible did make its way back to the family

thanks to a soldier who found it on Omaha Beach. His brother's body returned to Virginia for burial

Years later, after their mother suffered a stroke, their sister recalled sitting around

in the living room at night, and she'd be sitting on the sofa, and she'd say

Where are my boys? When Lieutenant Ray Nance set foot in France, he saw an eerie sight

There was a pall of dust and smoke in the distance. He could see the church steeple he and his company

were supposed to navigate by. They waded out of the water and came up onto the beach

In Nance own words I could not see anybody in front of me I looked behind and there nobody following me I was alone in France However he wasn truly alone As he crawled along the beach someone shot him in

the foot and hand. Under continuous fire, Nance began to give up hope. He looked to the sky

but saw no air support. He eventually found shelter beneath a cliff, which made him one of

the luckier Bedford boys. Brothers Clyde and Jack Powers were part of Company A, along with their

uncle, Harold Wilkes. Clyde was on the same boat as Harold, but Jack was on a different ship

Interestingly, Clyde and Harold's craft also carried the aforementioned Roy Stevens. When the craft began to sink as it crossed the English Channel, Roy tried desperately to stay

afloat. Clyde and Harold were good swimmers and did their best to help their fellow soldiers

weighed down by their equipment. Clyde ultimately kept Roy from drowning until another ship picked

them up. Jack Powers didn't survive the invasion. Clyde never found out exactly what happened to

his brother. He only knew that he perished that day on the beach because he found Jack's dog tags

in the makeshift cemetery after the battle ended. Before the D-Day landing, Earl Parker spoke with

Ray and Roy Stevens about what they would do when they got home. Parker looked upon a picture of his

young daughter, Danny, and mused, if I could just see her once, I wouldn't mind dying. Sadly, Parker

would never get that chance. He didn't make it back. His life ended on D-Day, and no one could

find his body. Parker's brother Joe, who also joined the 29th Division, didn't make it either

Another Parker's son, Billy, became a POW. Ray Nance, one of the last surviving Bedford boys

passed away in 2009 in his hometown. Lieutenant Nance had worked closely with Captain Fellers

to train Company A and was on the last ship from the company to land on Omaha Beach

Alan Huddleston, another Bedford boy, died in 2016. Huddleston survived D-Day, the old-fashioned way by not being there

He wasn't on the beach during the invasion. He was in a rehabilitation center in England

recovering from a broken ankle. The National D-Day Memorial debuted in Bedford, Virginia

in large part because of the enormous loss the town suffered during the invasion

Robert Slaughter, who fought during World War II, developed the memorial, which President George W. Bush

dedicated on June 6, 2001. The memorial is on 88 acres of land

and receives significant financial contributions from Steven Spielberg, the director of Saving Private Ryan

Veterans and Bedford boys, such as Charles Buster Schaaf, conducted tours of the memorial

Schaaf said he found it easier to talk about what happened that day with the tribute opening up a dialogue about his experiences