D-Day Needs Financial Aid Immediately

The National D-Day Memorial needs financial help — and the magnificent structure in the shadow of the Peaks of Otter in Bedford needs it now.

That’s why William McIntosh, president of the D-Day Memorial Foundation, is urging supporters to contact Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. McIntosh wants them to ask Kaine to do what he can to persuade President Barack Obama to declare the Bedford site a national monument. That would pave the way for the memorial to become part of the National Park Service and a true national memorial.

“There is a tremendous sense of urgency,” McIntosh said last week of the need for federal assistance. “Right now we have a modest revenue stream,” he added. But that revenue stream is lagging with the national economy and the memorial could begin to show the effects of it in a way that no one thought possible when it opened in 2001.

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The memorial honors the heavy loss of casualties among Bedford soldiers who landed at Omaha Beach in June 1944. The site was selected because Bedford lost more soldiers on a per capita basis than any other community in the nation. But it is a national memorial that honors the thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen who gave their lives in that epic battle on the coast of Normandy to save the free world.

Responding to inquiries about how to help the D-Day Memorial survive, McIntosh said last week the memorial foundation is asking those concerned to write to the governor to help secure its future.

“We’re not trying to make a massive lobbying effort,” he said. “We’re simply asking the state’s chief executive officer to do what he can to help preserve this national treasure.”

The foundation has a sample letter posted on its Web site that requests Kaine to urge the president to declare the attraction a federal monument. The letter says in part that “for the memorial’s gates to close mere weeks after the free world marked and celebrated the 65th anniversary of D-Day would be a national disgrace.”

Legislation has been introduced in Congress authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility of placing the memorial within the National Park System. Both Virginia senators, Jim Webb and Mark Warner, signed that legislation, along with Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th, and Tom Perriello, D-5th.

In a recent interview, Perriello touched on the significance of the memorial becoming a true national memorial under the auspices of the Park Service. “Not only could that help with the financial trouble,” he said, “but it also gives it the national recognition it deserves because this is something that should belong to all Americans.

“The end goal is obviously to make sure this monument is in good hands forever,” he added, noting that as part of the national park system, the memorial would be exposed to more people through national promotion by the Park Service.

He’s exactly right. The federal government can afford to include the D-Day Memorial in its list of attractions that memorialize important dates and events that have made this nation the best in the world.

A possible alternative, which is unthinkable, is to let the gates close and let weeds grow up around it.

Get in touch with Gov. Kaine and let him know about your concern for the future of the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford.