194 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine SOCIAL WORK, PUBLIC SERVICE, NONPROFIT AND HUMANITIES LINDA L. PARKER CO-OWNER, CURATOR Bedford Boys Tribute Center Bedford, VA Linda L. Parker is the co-owner and curator of the Bedford Boys Tribute Center, a museum highlighting the lives, accomplishments and sacrifices of the Bedford Boys, a group of soldiers killed in action during the World War II D-Day invasion of Normandy. A longtime history aficionado and the daughter of a World War II veteran, Ms. Parker and her husband learned the story of the Bedford Boys in 2018 as they prepared to attend a commemoration for the 75th anniversary of the military landing on Omaha Beach. Moved by what they learned about the 20 soldiers, all of whom were killed within the first minutes of battle, and the impact their loss had on their small hometown of Bedford, Virginia, Ms. Parker and her husband were motivated to build a connection with the town. Recently retired, they felt called to elevate the story of the Bedford Boys and began reaching out to local residents, beginning a letter-writing campaign to area churches and history groups, introducing themselves and their interest and asking for support with their project. Initially conceived as a project to honor the soldiers by decorating their graves, it quickly grew into what would become the Bedford Boys Tribute Center, a permanent nonprofit organization and museum dedicated to telling the stories of these soldiers and placing their sacrifice within the context of the area’s history and the history of World War II. As they continued researching the area and collecting oral histories from residents, Ms. Parker and her husband recognized their deepening ties to Bedford, and in January of 2019, they relocated to the area to continue their work. The Bedford Boys Tribute Center opened on June 1, 2019, and continues to serve an important role in preserving a part of Bedford’s legacy. Ms. Parker is proud to have been able to offer comfort and closure to the families of those lost in the D-Day invasion and to call attention to the impact their deaths had on the Bedford area, which suffered more casualties than any other town. She considers the center to be an important expansion of museums like the National D-Day Memorial, bringing local context to the story of the invasion and elevating the
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