"The Bedford Boys" WWII Book

I started reading "The Bedford Boys" on Thursday, I haven't been able to put it down when I have some downtime. It's a book about a town, Bedford, VA that in WWII had its Nat'l Guard unit activated with the 29th Division.

Slated to be the first wave of D-Day on Omaha Beach (Dog Beach to be exact), a total of 37 men from the town were either landed on the beach, missed the landing because their LCV's got sunk, or were in support of the invasion but didn't land with the first wave. In total, 28 men from the town landed on the actual first wave. Twenty-two died on that day.

An excerpt from the literal first boat that dropped its ramps on the beach:

quote:

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"All along the bluffs above Omaha, veterans of the German 352nd Division lay in wait. They had moved into the area in recent weeks, relieving the inferior 716th Division. They totaled two regiments, almost two thousand men.

As Fellers and his men started to advance, German officers finally ordered their men to fire. Above the Vierville draw, the 352nd opened up with at least three MG42 machine guns, firing over a thousand rounds per minute, and several mortars. Two dozen snipers lurked in nearby trenches. The slaughter was fast and merciless. Fellers and the twenty-nine men in his boat died within a matter of minutes, riddled by machine gun bullets from several directions."

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If any of you are interested in WWII history, this book is a must read. It switches off from what was happening to the men in France and what was happening in their town during the invasion. I can't imagine how their families felt hearing the news of the invasion over their radios.