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2016 SESSION
16105526DWHEREAS, Allen Huddleston, a proud veteran of World War II and the last surviving member of the Bedford Boys, a company of soldiers from Bedford County that sustained heavy casualties during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, died on February 10, 2016; and
WHEREAS, after the 116th Infantry Regiment of the Virginia National Guard was activated in 1941, Bedford County provided troops to Company A of the 29th Infantry Division; approximately 30 men from Bedford County, including Allen Huddleston, were still attached to the company in 1944, when the United States was preparing to open a new front in Europe; and
WHEREAS, Allen Huddleston was recovering from a broken ankle in England during the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944; Bedford County suffered the greatest number of casualties per capita during the operation, with 19 of the Company A Bedford Boys killed on the first day of the invasion and two killed later in the campaign; and
WHEREAS, Allen Huddleston returned to Company A to find that he did not recognize many members of the company, which had suffered a 90 percent casualty rate overall; he continued to serve and was wounded again at the battle of Aachen in Germany; and
WHEREAS, after his honorable discharge, Allen Huddleston returned home to the Commonwealth and worked in a photography shop in downtown Bedford; he served the community by taking wedding photos and other formal photos, and his beautiful prints of the Peaks of Otter were well known locally; and
WHEREAS, Allen Huddleston supported his fellow veterans as an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Roanoke, and he provided a link to local families who had lost loved ones during the war by sharing memories and comfort; and
WHEREAS, the exceptional service and sacrifices of Allen Huddleston, the Bedford Boys, and all veterans of World War II are memorialized by the National D-Day Memorial in the Town of Bedford; and
WHEREAS, Allen Huddleston will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by numerous family members, friends, and fellow service members; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Allen Huddleston, a patriotic veteran and a true Virginia gentleman; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Allen Huddleston as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for his memory.