IRB Media Summary of Alex Kershaw's The Bedford Boys

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The Bedfords were a family of seven boys who all joined the local National Guard unit together in 1938. They were all very young, and the brothers enjoyed the attention their uniforms brought them.#2 The Stevens brothers, Roy and Ray, were extremely competitive. They learned to box as children and by the mid-thirties were regularly fighting each other to earn a few cents. They bought a farm in 1938, and they knew they would have to wait until the economy rebounded before they could make a living working it.#3 The Stevens brothers joined the Bedford boys for their annual exercises in August 1939, sharing a tent with a hundred other young men from Bedford. They camped beside a hundred other young men from Bedford in Company A, which belonged to the 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division.#4 In September 1939, World War II had begun when Germany invaded Poland. In May 1940, the British had barely evaded capture at Dunkirk, and stood alone. Only 23 miles of the English Channel kept the Nazis from gaining complete hegemony over Europe.