BEDFORD, Va. (AP) — A statue honoring the Bedford Boys is being installed at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford.

The Bedford Boys are 19 soldiers from Bedford who were killed during the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

The statue, called “Homage,” is scheduled to be dedicated on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on June 6.

Media outlets report that work began Wednesday to lay the statue’s base.

The memorial’s website says Congress established the memorial in Bedford because the town proportionally had the nation’s severest losses on D-Day. Bedford’s population at the time was about 3,200 residents.

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Online:

National D-Day Memorial: www.dday.org/

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