Culture

A circa-1930 school building in the Bedford County community of Montvale has largely fallen into disrepair. It will take years, and several million dollars, to bring it back to life.

The torch run has become an annual tradition for the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and Martinsville Police Department.

Twenty-three years after it was dedicated, the D-Day memorial pursues its mission of honoring veterans, even as the number of living D-Day survivors continues to dwindle.

The retired Presbyterian pastor from Abingdon, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, landed on Utah Beach in Normandy six days after D-Day.

A national expert on monument restoration gave a free workshop at Roanoke’s Old Lick Cemetery, a historic African American burying ground that was decimated by urban renewal.

“Then the ranging fire caught them and cut them down as they tried to cross the sands. Only one-third of the men reached the foot of the slope alive.”

“For two hours the men burrowed in the sand waiting for the fire to lift.”

“Within 20 minutes of striking the beach, ‘A’ had ceased to be an assault company and had become a forlorn little rescue party bent on survival and the saving of lives.”

“He got to the edge of the sand and was there shot to death.”