Yes, we would do well to remember our heritage of the 116th Infantry.  It 
has its roots in the 2nd VA Infantry, CSA which became known as "The 
Stonewall Brigade."  The 116th (in its earlier unit designation I think) 
went to Mexico with Pershing just before the US entered WWI, and went to 
France in 1918.  There is a classic photo somewhere of Will Ruebush leading 
the Band of the 116th Infantry down Broad Street in Richmond when they 
returned.  Back about 1988, I walked the beaches of Normandy, saw the 
monument to the 29th Division, marveled that anybody could scale the rocks 
at Point-du-hoc, and got a lump in my throat when walking among the crosses 
at Coville-sur-mer which Richard Dixon calls out.

Units of the 116th, including companies from Winchester  have served in 
Afghanistan, the local unit losing two men to a roadside IED.  I learned in 
the paper that the local unit has been mobilized once again, this time for 
service in Iraq, leaving at the end of this month.  Whether you agree with 
out current policy in Iraq or not, you gotta applaud those men who are 
willing to up-root themselves, turn their lives upside down, and serve their 
country when called upon.

I am guessing that for the past several years, more than 50% of the Virginia 
National Guard has been in Federal service at any given time, but I have no 
stats to back it up.  It would be interesting to see what it is, and see how 
many units have been called up more than one time.

Randy Cabell


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Heritage Society" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:32 PM
Subject: [VA-HIST] June 6, 1944


> The crosses stand in perfect formation beneath the Normandie sky. It is 
> the graveyard at Colleville-sur-mer overlooking Omaha Beach where 9000 
> young Americans came to France on June 6, 1944 and now stay, forever 
> brave. On that morning, the first to reach the beach were men of Company A 
> of the 116th Regiment, 29th Infantry Division from Bedford County, 
> Virginia. Of its 36 men who went to war, 23 died in France, 19 on D-Day, 
> the highest percentage lost of any community in the United States. Today, 
> in Bedford, there is a memorial to the D-Day landings. To reach it you 
> will probably travel on a highway that bisects Virginia, known generally 
> as Route 29, but it's full name is the 29th Infantry Division Memorial 
> Highway, a daily reminder of the men who were heroes at Omaha.
> Richard E. Dixon
>