Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 30, 1995 TAG: 9505300129
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The National D-Day Memorial Foundation faces the challenge of raising $6 million by next year to build the memorial in Bedford.
Byron Dickson, the Roanoke architect who designed the memorial, said that is its cost "right now" although no accounting has been made of the city of Bedford's contributions in infrastructure and other support.
Models of the facility were unveiled Monday during Memorial Day ceremonies at Bedford Elementary School, which is adjacent to the hillside where it will be erected. Dickson said the goal is to break ground for the memorial next year and to dedicate it June 6, 1997, the 53nd anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy.
Dickson said that a professional fund-raising organization, Community Counseling Service of New York, has been in Roanoke for the last four weeks to prepare a feasibility study for the campaign.
The report is due June 30, according to Dickson, and the six-month drive to raise money to build the memorial should begin in late August or early September.
The plan for the memorial was dictated by the site, which is the second highest hill in Bedford. "It's the most perfect building site in Southwest Virginia," Dickson said.
The plan provides for a visitor center at the foot of the hill with a gift shop, restrooms and a 40-seat auditorium where a video would be shown to visitors every hour.
The memorial on the hill would be a granite arch with the words "Operation Overlord" across the top. Operation Overlord was the code name for the Normandy invasion by Allied forces.
The arch itself would frame a view of the Peaks of Otter.
On top of the arch would be alternating blocks of black and white granite stones that Dickson called the cathedral.
From one of those stones, a piece of sculpture would rise. It shows a rifle dug barrel-first into the ground and topped by a helmet. Called "the final tribute," the statue would depict the temporary graves of soldiers who fell in combat.
Water would flow from the memorial into a series of ponds. On the model, a bridge crosses near the steps that depict Omaha, Utah and other beaches where soldiers stormed ashore.
Dickson envisions three dioramas, using statues around the ponds to tell a story.
One would show three men coming from the water to the beaches represented by the steps. One man is stumbling, another is face-down in the water and the third is waist-high in water carrying a rifle over his head.
A second diorama shows a man climbing out of the water onto the beach.
The final diorama would be placed on one of the 20 benches surrounding the site. It would show a seated woman in the dress of the 1940s reading a telegram. Her husband, with his arm on her shoulder, would face the beach diorama.
Dickson said the foundation also is studying the concept of allowing families of men who landed on D-Day to pay for a tree with a small memorial stone. These would serve as individual memorials.
Two places on the perimeter of the circular plan would be reserved in case England and France wish to add memorials to their own men who landed at Normandy.
Dickson said he expected the D-Day Memorial to become a popular tourist attraction, especially since it is so close to Appomattox and other historical sites.
During the ceremonies, Bedford Mayor Michael Shelton said the soldiers who invaded Normandy on D-Day "truly changed the face of the world."
Lucille Boggess, a member of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors, said she has lived with the impact of D-Day most of her life. Two of her brothers died in the invasion.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, said 23 men from Bedford died in the invasion. That's more per capita than for any other community.
He said those who invaded Europe put their hopes and dreams on hold to give hope to other people who lived under oppression.
The memorial, Goodlatte said, will serve as a lasting tribute to all who took part in D-Day, as a reminder of the price they paid and the price of liberty and peace, and as a means of educating future generations about the significance and meaning of D-Day.
"The men who waded ashore walked into history," Goodlatte said.
by CNB