National D-Day Memorial, (sculpture).

National D-Day Memorial, (sculpture).

Brothers, Jim, 1942-2013, sculptor.

Kirby, Matt, sculptor.

Pumphrey, Richard, sculptor.

Byron Dickson & Associates, architectural firm.

National D-Day Memorial, (sculpture).

Dedicated June 6, 2001.

The memorial, which covers a large area representing the beach at Normandy, is dotted with sculptures of soldiers in combat by Jim Brothers. At the front of the memorial is an arch marked "OVERLORD," the code name for the D-Day attack. Beneath the arch is a sculpture of a soldier pulling a wounded fellow soldier to safety. Another soldier in a beach landing tableau is seen wading to shore with his rifle raised over his head, while nearby a comrade lies on the beach. "Scaling the Wall" is a sculpture by Jim Brothers illustrating soldiers climbing up the rocky cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, where German soldiers took up positions. On Estes Plaza, Matt Kirby's "Final Tribute" sculpture illustrates a battlefield grave marker composed of a helmet resting atop a rifle pointed into the ground. "The Supreme Commander" by Jim Brothers depicts General Dwight D. Eisenhower standing beneath a battlefield map sketched across the ceiling of a gazebo. Atop a nearby pedestal is a bust of the Deputy Supreme Commander, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur William Tedder by Jim Brothers. Atop another pedestal is a bust of Omar N. Bradley. Along the Stettinius Parade leading to the Overlord Arch is a cast of Edmond de Laheudrie's "Le Monument aux Morts," the original of which was captured during the liberation of Trevieres. At the the entrance on the northern side is a bust of Joseph Stalin by Richard Pumphrey is accompanied by busts of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle, and Winston Churchill.

History -- United States -- World War II

Landscape -- France -- Normandy

Figure group -- Male

Occupation -- Military -- Soldier

Dress -- Uniform -- Military Uniform

Portrait male -- Eisenhower, Dwight D. -- Full length

Portrait male -- Bradley, Omar N. -- Bust

Portrait male -- Stalin, Joseph

Portrait male -- Churchill, Winston -- Bust

Portrait male -- Roosevelt, Franklin D. -- Bust

Portrait male -- De Gaulle, Charles

Portrait male -- Tedder, Arthur William -- Bust

Ethnic -- French

Ethnic -- Russian

Outdoor Sculpture -- Virginia -- Bedford

National D-Day Memorial, 3 Overlord Circle, Bedford, Virginia 24523

The memorial commemorates the June 6, 1944 Allied Forces attack on the beaches of Normandy to free Nazi-occupied Europe. Bedford, Virginia was chosen as the site for the memorial because proportionally, the town of Bedford with a population in 1944 of 3,200 had the most D-Day casualities. Nineteen Bedford soldiers died on June 6, 1944 and two more died in later combat at Normandy.

Inventory Staff, 2002, 2010.

America's Battlefields & Memorials (a supplement to newsweeklies published by Army Times Publishing Co, Springfield, VA), June 24, 2002, pg. 32.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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