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. The Old Dominion Chapter #202 of QCWA obtained the "vanity" callsign, WW2DDM to be readily identified with the Event.
(W)orld (W)ar 2 (D)-(D)ay (M)emorial
This initial operation of the Special Event Station was 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 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 have utilized as many bands and modes as possible. Including 80, 40, 30, 20, 15, 10, 6 and 2 Meters using SSB, CW, FM and RTTY modes.
Since the dedication of the Memorial in 2001 members of the Roanoke
Valley ARC, the Franklin County ARC, the Lynchburg ARC and Chapter 202
of the Quarter Century Wireless Association have activated WW2DDM on the
anniversary of D-Day as well as in various other Amateur Radio contests.