Vice President Mike Pence has traveled to the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va., and paid tribute to what he calls “the pride of our nation” — the remaining U.S. veterans who participated in the D-Day landings in France that took place 75 years ago.

Pence says, “We marvel at the courage that you showed as young men.”

With those veterans in mind, as well as those who died on D-Day or years later, he said: “We say one more time, thank you for your service, thank you for our freedom.”

On #DDay, 20 Bedford Boys with the 116th Infantry stormed Omaha beach & fell in the defense of freedom. Like other members of their generation, the Bedford Boys weren’t looking for recognition. All they wanted to do was serve their country- & serve they did. pic.twitter.com/0Zk7oTbAGw

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) June 6, 2019

The rural Virginia town’s D-Day losses were among the steepest, proportionally, of any American community. Twenty men from Bedford or the surrounding area were killed on D-Day — June 6, 1944. Bedford had a population of about 4,000 at the time.

Pence highlighted the story of the fallen, who came to be known as the “Bedford Boys.”

He says the truest memorial to them is “Our freedom, the freedom they fought and sacrificed so much for.”

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