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NEWS | April 20, 2009

Last "Bedford Boy" died on Sunday

By Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, VA. - The last remaining member of the Bedford Boys, a World War II unit from the Virginia Army National Guard that took part in the D-Day invasion, died at the Elks National Home in Bedford, Va., on Sunday. He was 94.

Elisha Ray Nance was one of 34 servicemen from the Bedford area, who landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.

Nineteen of the 34 Bedford Soldiers in Company A of the 116th Infantry were killed on Omaha Beach. The death toll is considered one of the largest per capita suffered by any American community during the invasion.

A National D-Day Memorial was established in Bedford in 2001 for the Soldiers, who fought their way onto the beaches during the first two waves of the great D-Day invasion.

German defenders virtually wiped out isolated Company A of Bedford, Va., in 15 minutes. "Of the 200-plus men of the company, only a couple of dozen survived and virtually all of them were wounded," wrote the late historian Stephen Ambrose in his best-selling book, "D-Day."

Other Soldiers in the 116th, however, survived the German’s deadline fire to help secure the beachhead and begin the liberation of France and Europe.

Nance was featured in Alex Kershaw's book "The Bedford Boys." He described crawling onto Omaha Beach and facing the corpses of fallen fellow soldiers from Company A. He was hit in the right foot by enemy fire and suffered a shrapnel wound in one hand.

"They [bullets] came so close," Nance told Kershaw. "Then, suddenly, when I thought there was no more hope, I looked up into the sky. I didn't see anything up there. But I felt something settle over me. I got this warm feeling. I felt as if somehow I was going to live."

Nance was the only officer in the company who made it home. He earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service.

Visitation for Nance will be held Tuesday night at Tharp Funeral Home and Crematory in Bedford. Graveside services are set for 11 a.m., Wednesday at Oakwood Cemetery.

 

 

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