Buying Time for the D-Day Memorial

While the decision to lay off nearly half the staff at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford didn’t come as a big surprise, it could be a portent of the memorial’s future beyond the coming winter.

William McIntosh, president of the foundation that operates the memorial, said last week that 11 of 24 positions would be cut by early next month.

The positions to be eliminated will be a mix of full-time and part-time employees, he said.

The busy tourist season is over for now, he said, adding that “in the current economic environment, it is not prudent to think that our revenue is going to improve much over the next few months.”

Lagging revenues in a weak economy have bedeviled the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford for most of this year. Officials responded by cutting back hours by 10 percent, suspending contributions to retirement plans and eliminating employee benefits to offset the drop in financial contributions.

New Feature

Sign up for our newsletter e-mailed to you at 8 a.m. each day Monday through Friday.

Click here

The grand memorial that serves as a tribute to the fallen soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy in June 1944 operates on a $2.2 million annual budget. Less than half of that comes from revenues generated by ticket sales, gift shop proceeds and tours.

The balance comes from contributions, which have dropped off because of the weakened economy.

The foundation’s president said he didn’t have a specific dollar figure to show how much the layoffs would save, but did say they would reduce the annual budget “effectively.” Education would be the last area to be cut, he said, because “that’s our reason for being here. That’s absolutely vital.”

Nineteen soldiers from Bedford died in the first wave of the Normandy invasion, a loss that ultimately led to the memorial’s location in Bedford.

McIntosh said the foundation is considering an option to close the memorial for winter months except by appointment only. “We will do what we have to do to proceed,” he added.

Lawmakers in Washington, meanwhile, have responded to the memorial’s financial crisis by working on legislation to have the National Park Service assume management of it. President Barack Obama signed a defense bill late last month that authorizes a study of that possibility.

The legislative process grinds slowly, however, and it will take time before Washington can declare the memorial a national monument.

Volunteers have helped keep the D-Day Memorial going in the past and they will continue to keep it going in the future, albeit on a limited schedule. In the meantime, McIntosh and his staff have taken prudent steps toward stretching their limited revenues as far as possible.

That bodes well for the memorial and for the people of Bedford who already have much invested in the monument that honors all those who died on D-Day.