D-Day film tells of Bedford's sacrifice

After four years of shooting and researching, a Virginia film company has finished a war documentary called “Bedford: The Town They Left Behind.”

For more information about the film and its release, visit www.bedfordthemovie.com.

The 74-minute feature film by the Johnson Group in McLean tells of Bedford’s sacrifice during the D-Day Invasion — the town, now a city close to reverting back to a town, lost more men than any other U.S. locality.

Co-director and writer Joe Fab said interviews were done with survivors, including Ray Nance, the last living Bedford participant in D-Day, and Roy Stevens, a late veteran who lost a twin brother during the invasion, along with their relatives.

Though it’s a subject that has become somewhat well known, Fab said the town’s sacrifice is such an important story that was “extremely moving” to capture.

“We’re encouraging people to look at it from a little bit different angle,” Fab said.

One such way to do that, Fab said, was to incorporate the current conflicts of Afghanistan and Iraq into the film. Deploy-ment scenes were shot of Bed-ford’s company of the National Guard leaving for those conflicts, which Fab said shines a light on the differences between then and now.

The film doesn’t take a stance for or against the current wars, he said, but is intended to make people forge their own opinions as history meets current events.

“Everyone was involved and everyone was affected,” Fab said of the effort behind World War II. “Today that’s not the case. I’m hoping it will put people in mind of that.”

The film also follows the story of the Bedford soldiers’ time at Ivy Bridge during World War II, near where they spent much time training. Fab said the filmmakers interviewed a woman who ran a local pub which was frequented by the soldiers, whom he de-scribed as “a real hoot.”

The filmmakers plan to show the movie at festivals and are looking for a distributor that will decide its future in theaters or DVD production.

“For a film like this, it usually takes many months for the proc-ess to sort out,” said Fab.

On Veterans Day, the Johnson Group held a screening for about 700 people at Liberty High School, many of whom Fab said were instrumental in helping make the film possible.

Bedford Mayor Skip Tharp was among those who attended.

He gave the film a thumbs up, saying it was a touching and “first class” story that he hopes a lot of people get to see.

“I thought they captured what Bedford went through and the magnitude of what we lost,” he said. “They hit the nail on the head.”

Tharp, who also runs a funeral home, said he has buried many veterans and their loved ones and this was a fitting tribute that brought back tears.

“It’s a great story — the way they tied the history and the current events — I was just really surprised,” said Tharp. “I came away feeling proud.”