This week's #FIRE is a special one. #MilitaryAppreciationGame #BeatNMSU pic.twitter.com/jXZFaagbGZ
— Liberty Football (@LibertyFootball) November 27, 2019
On Wednesday, the Liberty Flames unveiled a special helmet design the football team will wear on Saturday that honors the “Bedford Boys”.
The helmet, which recognizes the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, was specifically created to honor the lives of the “Bedford Boys”. The “Bedford Boys” were men from Company A, 1st Battalion 116th Infantry 29th Division that took part in the invasion of Normandy (D-Day) during World War II. There were 34 men from Bedford County, Virginia with Company A participating in the invasion, 16 of which were killed, and three others were considered missing and later declared dead during the first day of the invasion. Two more died during the rest of the Normandy campaign.
The helmet features the faces and names of the “Bedford Boys” over the LU logo on the side, with the National D-Day Memorial logo on the front bumper. The back bumper says “Bedford Boys” in their honor.
The county of Bedford, which is less than 25 miles from Liberty University, suffered the greatest loss per capita of any community during the D-Day invasion. There were 52 men from Bedford County that took part in the invasion of Normandy, of those 41 died.
