RIP: Elisha Ray Nance, the Last of the Bedford Boys
Well, as a soldier formerly with the 116th, this one is a sad one.
When World War II broke out, the “Bedford Boys” left home to serve. Many of them didn’t come home _ so many that the community had among the greatest losses per capita on D-Day.
Now the last survivor has died.
Elisha Ray Nance died Sunday in Bedford, a spokesman at Tharp Funeral Home and Crematory said Monday. He was 94.
Nance was among 38 National Guardsmen from the close-knit community of Bedford who were in Company A of the 116th Infantry, a spokeswoman at the National D-Day Memorial Foundation said. On June 6, 1944, 19 were killed when they landed on Omaha Beach at the start of the D-Day invasion. Two more died later.
[…]
Serving in the war meant more than a military engagement to the “Bedford Boys,” she said.“This is personal. This is family,” Brooks said. “When their comrades fall, it’s not just some guy who was added to the unit three weeks ago.”
To honor his fallen brethren, Nance reorganized Company A of the Virginia National Guard in Bedford and was its first commander after World War II.
Ever forward Sir.
I’m sure that the 3-116th Sniper will have more on this later.
Category: Politics
Do you know where there is a good website that talks about it’s history? This is going to be a nerdy moment so bear with me.
I play a WW2 game called flames of war, where we try to field as closely accurate as possible to the units that where there. So I thought this would be a good chance to use in in this game. Becuase in every game that I have played, we talk about history and people’s stories.
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=290
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&art_id=274
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&art_id=274
TSO Wrote: I don’t know about websites, but there is a great book out there that covers everything. The Bedford Boys: One American Town’s Ultimate D-day Sacrifice (Paperback)
TSO,
You gave me goosebumps with your “Ever Forward,sir.” I had a unit crest that said “Fear Not” and we used it for any salutes and it was a form of Respect for our Leaders.
RIP, sir.
Ever Forward.
Stonewall.
I salute this last surviving member. I will also note that TSO is right, that’s an excellent book. I read it before deploying, as we were considered to be the first time since Normandy that they had sent the 116th into battle (although I’m a little curious what they considered their deployment to Bosnia, although perhaps they did not expect exchanges of fire.
Oh, also by my recollection there is some discussion of them in Ambrose’s D-Day and Citizen Soldiers. I have a memory from one of those books of a soldier from one of the first waves of D-Day. In a letter or journal he had written that they expected 100% casualties in those waves, and that it was his hope that he could get his gear far enough up the beach that someone behind him could use it. I still have trouble comprehending what that thought feels like in your head. It was actually the reason I enlisted: I figured if that guy could hold to that philosophy, the least I could do was show up for my country and try not to be a soup sandwich.
The Bedford Boys was a great book. Bless him and his family.