The Bedford Boys

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What to expect

The Bedford Boys is the astonishing true story of twenty-one young men who were killed during the first horrifying minutes of D-Day and the friends and families they left behind in the small town of Bedford. Twenty-one sons killed—no other town in America suffered a greater loss in one day. It is an unforgettable story of triumph, courage, and tragedy based on extensive interviews with survivors and relatives as well as diaries and letters. Alex Kershaw's remarkable book brings to vivid, heartbreaking life the hitherto untold story of one small American town, their sons, and the brutal, bloody war that deprived them of their futures.

Critics Review

“A powerful reminder of the human cost of war.”

Washington Post

“A poignant story that humanises the D-Day sacrifice.”

The Observer (London)

“This accessible and moving group biography portrays the men of Company
A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, who were part of the
first wave at Omaha Beach in WWII. Initially, 103 of them left the
small town of Bedford, Va.—now the site of the national D-Day
memorial—when the local National Guard was called up in 1940; thirty-four were
still with the company on D-Day. Of these, nineteen died in a matter of
minutes and three more perished in the Normandy campaign…the book’s central focus is on the town where a
good many survivors remain whose memories have not faded and whose
emotional wounds have not healed.”

Publishers Weekly

“Kershaw’s book is more than just another war
story; here is an in-depth account of this blue-collar town and its
3,000 people…Kershaw describes in painful detail how the next of kin were
notified of the soldiers’ deaths via Western Union telegrams and how
the news devastated their lives. Drawing on interviews with survivors
and relatives, newspaper clippings, letters, and diaries, Kershaw has
chronicled one community’s great sacrifice.”

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