VOA慢速英语--:维吉尼亚城纪念二战牺牲的士兵

Virginia Town Remembers Its Fallen WWII Soldiers

Marguerite Cottrell remembers the summer day almost 75 years ago when a note was brought to her family’s farm.

Her mother opened the note, read it, sat down and cried.

The note informed the family that Cottrell’s older brother, John Reynolds, had been killed. He died during the Allied¹ Force’s invasion of Nazi²-controlled Normandy on the coast of France on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day.

“I knew something bad had happened,” Cottrell told the Associated Press. She was four years old at the time and remembers her mother telling her: “Well, little Jack³ has gone to heaven. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

All over the little town of Bedford, Virginia, near the Blue Ridge⁴ Mountains, other families received similar messages that summer. Each message opened the same way, expressing the United States secretary of war’s “deep regret” in informing that a loved one was killed or missing.

Twenty men from Bedford and the surrounding area were killed on D-Day. Nineteen died while trying to take control of Omaha Beach from the German army as members of Company A of the 116th U.S. Infantry⁵ Regiment⁶. The 20th death was of a soldier in a different company.

The D-Day invasion was a hugely important event in World War II. It marked a turn in the fighting. The allied forces led by Britain, the Soviet⁷ Union, France, and the U.S. won the war less than two years later.

The invasion also had a major effect on Bedford, a town of about 4,000 people at the time. Its D-Day losses were among the largest of any community in America.

Writer Alex Kershaw’s 2003 best-selling book “The Bedford Boys” notes that the dead were young men who entered adulthood⁸ during the Great Depression. They joined the National Guard before the war to make some extra money. They also sought to wear the uniforms that local girls found appealing, Kershaw wrote.

Frank Draper and Elmere Wright were popular local baseball players. Wallace Carter worked at a business where people gathered to play the game of pool. Earl Parker was a newly married man that died before seeing his baby daughter. Brothers Ray and Roy Stevens hoped to farm together after the war, but only Roy survived.

Their time in fighting was short. Among the first groups on Omaha Beach, Bedford’s sons were killed by Nazi machine guns and explosives within minutes of their arrival on boats.

Soldier Elisha Ray Nance⁹ is one of the few Bedford Boys who survived that day. Local historian¹⁰ James Morrison wrote about Nance’s recollection of the experience in Morrison’s book “Bedford Goes to War.”

“They were waiting for us, the minute the ramp¹¹ went down, they opened up,” said Nance, meaning the Germans fired at them immediately.

In 1996, the U.S. Congress established the National D-Day Memorial on an area of land next to Bedford. The memorial honors the more than 4,000 Allied soldiers who lost their lives in the battle.

“When people come here, it is important to see the town as the monument itself,” then-President George W. Bush said at a 2001 ceremony that opened the memorial. “This is the place they left behind.”

History lover Ken¹² Parker and his wife, Linda, have turned the town’s old drug store into a coffee shop and place of remembrance for the Bedford Boys. Green’s Drug Store was where Bedford Boys spent free time as high schoolers. Their wives and girlfriends often went there to exchange news and information during the war.

The center is now filled with uniforms, pictures and other items. This includes the device, known as a teletype machine, that Parker says printed out the notices when the boys were killed.

On a recent Monday, townswoman Maryellen Cunningham came in to take a look around. She said seeing the old teletype filled her with strong emotions.

“I can’t even imagine the operator that was getting one telegram after another after another,” she said.

The Parkers — who recently moved to Bedford from Oklahoma — said they get similar visits all the time from people living in Bedford. People often want to leave a war-related family heirloom for presentation at the new tribute¹³ center.

Elisha Ray Nance, the last surviving Bedford Boy, died in 2009. Only a few of the fallen soldiers’ brothers and sisters are still alive. But the Parkers said younger generations have held on to many of the boys’ letters and other items. They pass the items down through generations almost like holy objects.

The Parkers said one of the Bedford Boys’ relatives recently found a collection of unopened letters his grandmother had sent to her son before she knew he had been killed on D-Day.

“They just bottled this up for so long,” Linda Parker said. “They can finally open that box and let the stuff out.”

Marguerite Cottrell recently visited Green’s Drug Store. She said her mother used to open an old container of her brother’s belongings¹⁴ on Sunday afternoons and read his letters. Cottrell said her mother blamed herself for letting Jack join the military and talked about him often to keep his memory alive.

“There’s so many people that have passed away, you know, that this would have meant so much to,” she said of the drugstore. “My mom would have loved coming here.”

I’m Pete Musto.

And I’m Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

heaven – n. the place where some religions say God lives and where good people go after they die

uniform(s) – n. a special kind of clothing that is worn by all the members of a group or organization, such as an army or team

recollection – n. the act of remembering something or the ability to remember something

ramp – n. a piece of equipment with a slope that is used to join two surfaces that are at different levels or heights

monument – n. a building or statue that honors a person or event

heirloom – n. a valuable object that is owned by a family for many years and passed from one generation to another

tribute – n. something that you say, give, or do to show respect or affection for someone

bottle(d) (this) up – p.v. to keep a feeling or emotion inside of you instead of

expressing it

pass(ed) away – p.v. to die

1 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

2 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

5 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

6 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

7 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

8 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

9 nance   

n.娘娘腔的男人，男同性恋者

参考例句：

• I think he's an awful nance.我觉得他这个人太娘娘腔了。
• He doesn't like to be called a nance.他不喜欢被叫做娘娘腔。

10 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

11 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

12 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

13 tribute   

n.颂词，称赞，(表示敬意的)礼物；贡品

参考例句：

• She accepted their tribute graciously.她慈祥地接受了他们的致意。
• Many conquered nations had to pay tribute to the rulers of ancient Rome.许多被征服的国家必须向古罗马的统治者朝贡。

14 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。