The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw
Rating = ****

Bedford, VA, is the home of the D-Day Memorial because no town in America lost more 
boys on D-Day. Nineteen of the thirty-four Virginia National Guard soldiers from 
Bedford who were in Company A, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, were 
killed on D-Day, and four more died during the rest of the Normandy campaign, two of 
them from other 116th companies. The majority of Company A was in the same landing 
craft on June 6, 1944. It was one of the first boats to launch. Most of them didn't 
make it to the beach. This book is the story of those boys, their families, and the 
impact that fateful day, and the war in general, had on their lives and the town.