

Fundraising and building the memorialįundraising and building the memorial took approximately seven years of planning and approximately $25 million to complete. The organization also involves itself in assisting veterans and their families such as undertaking the search for family members of soldiers whose personal belongings have been found after years of being lost.
NATIONAL D DAY MEMORIAL CODE
The memorial is currently trying to one better itself with its attempt to compile a list of every service member that participated in Operations Overlord and Neptune ( Overlord was the code name of actual invasion whereas Neptune was code for getting the troops across the English Channel for the invasion). It charges itself with expanding the memorial, such as when it listed on plaques the name of every one of the 4,413 Allied soldiers who died in the invasion, the most complete list of its kind anywhere in the world. Presently, the foundation is headquartered in Bedford. The idea had been looked at, but support for its completion did not exist prior to the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion in 1994. The National D-Day Memorial Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3)organization that had its beginnings as a small committee in 1988 with the prospect of building a memorial to dedicate the sacrifices made by the Allied Forces on D-Day. 2 Fundraising and building the memorial.


Bedford was selected for the National D-Day memorial because the town suffered the greatest per capita loss of life during the invasion of any town in the country. Of those, more than half are from outside of Virginia. About 70,000 people have visited the memorial each year. It officially opened on Jwith 15,000 people present, one of whom was then-President George W. The memorial, bordering the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwestern Virginia, is an area comprising 88 acres (360,000 m 2) that overlooks the town of Bedford. However, its scope is international in that it states, "In Tribute to the valor, fidelity and sacrifice of Allied Forces on D-Day, June 6, 1944" and commends all Allied Armed Forces during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France on Jduring World War II. It serves as the national memorial for American D-Day veterans. The National D-Day Memorial is a war memorial located in Bedford, Virginia. National D-Day Memorial pool with Overlord Arch
