Elisha Ray Nance (died April 19, 2009) was the last survivor of the Bedford Boys, soldiers from the Blue Ridge foothills whose heavy losses at Omaha Beach symbolized the sacrifices of all the Americans who fell at Normandy on D-Day.
In February 1941, the men who would become known as the Bedford Boys were called into federal service as part of the 29th Infantry Division. Assembled in Company A of the division’s 116th Infantry Regiment, they shipped off to Britain in September 1942. Lt. Nance, the son of a tobacco farmer, helped train them for combat.
In the early hours of June 6, 1944, when the long-awaited Allied invasion of northern Europe got under way, 30 soldiers from Bedford and its environs were among the first infantrymen approaching Omaha Beach. The bombings and shellings preceding the landings failed to soften up the German gunners in the heights. The beach became the scene of carnage.
Four of the 30 Bedford boys were in a landing craft that was hit by German fire and sank. Fished out of the waters, they were the fortunate ones; 19 others died approaching the beach or in their first moments on French soil, among them Capt. Taylor Fellers, the company commander. Lieutenant Nance’s boat, carrying a radio man and a medic, was the last craft from Company A to reach the sands.
“There was a pall of dust and smoke,” Mr. Nance recalled in a 2001 interview with WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va. “In the distance I could see the church steeple we were supposed to guide on. I waded out of the water up on the beach. I could not see anybody in front of me. I looked behind, and there’s nobody following me. I was alone in France.” Nance crawled through continuous mortar and machine gun fire across the beach to the shelter of the cliff at Normandy.
Most of the Bedford boys were dead or dying by then. In all, 22 were killed in the invasion. Nance was shot twice in the foot and once in the hand.
After a long period of hospitalization, Mr. Nance returned home. He farmed, then became a rural letter carrier.
To honor the memories of his men, he recruited a new Company A in the Virginia National Guard and helped organize a memorial service in town for the 10th anniversary of D-Day. Bedford was said to have lost more men per capita on D-Day than any other town in America. The origin of that claim is unclear, but the losses brought Congressional support for creation of a National D-Day Memorial in Bedford. When the memorial’s granite arch was unveiled in May 2000, Mr. Nance struggled with his emotions. “It brings back a lot of bad memories,” he told The Associated Press. “I never really got over it, and I’m not sure if I ever will.” Nance struggled with survivor's guilt throughout his life. The memorial was dedicated on June 6, 2001, in ceremonies attended by President George W. Bush.
Nance died at the age of 94 in Bedford, Virginia.