Bedford Museum exhibit honors unit's storied past

BEDFORD — While many hearts were preparing for a tearful deployment of Bedford’s Company A of the Virginia National Guard earlier this month, the Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library was hurrying to piece together an exhibit honoring the unit’s history.

A group of guardsmen and their loved ones were among the first to tour the new room when it opened Jan. 7 — a day before they left Lynchburg to train for eventual deployment to Iraq — said Jennifer Thomson, a museum tour guide. Company A was among 400 soldiers from the Lynchburg-based 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Brigade Combat Team that departed from Liberty University’s Schilling Center earlier this month.

“We wanted them to know we were behind them,” Thomson said. “They really liked it.”

The new exhibit includes individual and group photos of the company from World War I until today, including the storied group that stormed the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion in 1944. That unit, known by many as “The Bedford Boys,” lost 19 of its 35 men who took part in the invasion. The heavy casualties led to the National D-Day Memorial settling in Bedford in 2001.

The exhibit room also includes personal artifacts the museum has

collected throughout its history that dates back to 1932, Thomson said.

Items for display include a trunk, a standard military uniform, a rifle, baseballs, kneepads, a baseball glove and a catcher’s mitt. While the men were in England preparing for the invasion, Thomson said they were active in playing baseball.

Ray Nance, the company’s last survivor to take part in the Normandy invasion who died last year at age 94, is included in the display’s many individual photos. Group pictures also include a unit that deployed to Afghanistan in 2004.

“It definitely shows the transition from World War II up until today,” Thomson said.

It joins a handful of other exhibits on the museum’s second floor that portrays strong local ties to the two world wars, the Civil War, black history and Native American culture.

Two of the rooms list the names of nearly 200 men who died in World War I and World War II combined and also depicts the role of Bedford women who participated in the war effort. Another room contains an oath of affirmation from 1777 signed by more than 100 county residents swearing allegiance to the newly formed United States of America.

The three-story museum, located on East Main Street in Bedford between the courthouse and the city’s municipal building, offers guided and self-guided tours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

As for the newest room dedicated to Company A, Thomson said the goal is for it to stay open at least until the current group returns home.

“It’s our way to support the troops,” she said. “They, for a long time, have been supporting Bedford County.”