Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the successful invasion of Normandy, which was a decisive factor to the end of Nazi terror in Europe.

Why is the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, and not in Washington D.C., like so many other National Memorials? Because the Bedford community suffered the highest per Capita US losses on that day. The Memorial honours not only them, but all Allied forces that participated in the invasion of Normandy on June 6th 1944. I have visited the Memorial when on vacation at nearby Smith Mountain Lake. It´s quite an impressive plot within sight of the very beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. The architecture itself speaks the very clear language of American memorial design, its aesthetics not necessarily everyone´s cup of tea. But commanding and monumental it is. 

Operation Overlord - the code name for the invasion.

The pretty Blue Ridge Mountain backdrop.

The ceremonial wreath laying place below the arch.

Very martial and defiant.

A landing craft releases the soldiers who run through the surf up to the beach,

while bullets whiz past and hit the water.

A stylized English garden with a statue of the commander of the operation,

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the rotunda.

Les Monument aux Morts, the French Nike statue took damage during the fights in the village of Trévière.

Shrapnel or rounds damaged the face and throat of the figure.

The flags of all participating nations in Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.