On D-Day there were thirty-five soldiers from Bedford, VA involved
in the landing at Omaha Beach. Nineteen of those young men died as
they landed and two more died shortly thereafter from D-Day wounds.
The loss of twenty-one young men from a community of 3,200 gave Bedford
the highest proportional losses for D-Day.
Through the efforts of Robert Slaughter, one of those soldiers who survived, the National D-Day Memorial Foundation was created. Its mission was to erect a memorial complex, consisting of a monument and an education center to celebrate and preserve the legacy of D-Day. It is quite impressive!
The facility was formally dedicated on June 6, 2001 and a Special Event Station was operated from June 6 through June 10, 2001. The Old Dominion Chapter #202 of QCWA obtained the "vanity" callsign, WW2DDM to be readily identified with the Event.
Operations were a great sucess. And, the Chapter felt that this Memorial is of such importance and renown that Amateur Radio Operators throughout this country and the rest of the world should be given an opportunity again on the Anniversary of the Dedication to contact the station and obtain the special QSL card commemorating the dedication and to learn more about the Memorial and its Education Center.
Although many Special Event Stations limit their operation to SSB on one or two frequencies, we had planned to utilize as many bands and modes as possible. Including 40, 30, 20, 15, 10, 6 and 2 Meters using SSB, CW, FM and RTTY modes.
From a weather standpoint we should have operated on Friday, June 6 the day of D-Day. But in order to provide for the maximum number of Amateur Radio Stations to contact WW2DDM, we chose to operate on Saturday, June 7, 2003. The weather was very poor with rain all day, but propagation conditions were fairly good. Contacts were made with stations in 44 States and in 3 Provinces of Canada
The operation involved members of the Amateur Radio Clubs in the area surrounding Bedford, VA. Including the Roanoke Valley ARC, the Franklin County ARC, the Lynchburg ARC and Chapter 202 of the Quarter Century Wireless Association.