June 6 this year will mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied forces’ beach landing in France that proved a turning point for the fight against Nazi Germany in World War II. Some 73,000 Americans took part in D-Day, and although it would help bring about the war’s end a year later, the bloody assault claimed the lives of 2,500 U.S. troops.
Of the sacrifices made on D-Day, one small town in Virginia gave more than its share. Bedford and its environs sent 37 men into the war, but 20 of those lost their lives by D-Day’s end. No U.S. town had a higher per capita rate of loss that day. Today, the town’s fallen are known as “the Bedford Boys.”
In the cover story of this issue of WORLD, you’ll read about Bedford and two brothers who fell together on the same day. Eight decades later, relatives and advocates concerned with preserving the memory of the Hoback brothers and other Bedford natives—and honoring all the war’s U.S. service members—plan to gather in the town’s National D-Day Memorial to commemorate the ones who gave their all.
June is also the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. In this issue you’ll find feature stories about the Biden administration’s harsh crackdown on pro-life protesters, and about Democratic criticism regarding pro-lifers’ use of geofencing to reach abortion-minded women.
Daniel James Devine
Editor
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