Courtesy of James Morrison

Elisha Ray Nance (center) stands with fellow World War II veterans Kenneth Dooley (left) and Roy Stevens at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford. Jim McCann, site operations manager, said Nance visited the memorial more often after Stevens' death in 2007. "I think he was doing what he could to honor the other guys who can't come anymore," McCann said.

The Roanoke Times | File 2001

World War II veteran and D-Day soldier Ray Nance at his Bedford County home with some of his war memorabilia, including a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and a stone from Omaha Beach.

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Elisha Ray Nance died at the Elks National Home in Bedford on Sunday, less than two months before the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

Nance, 94, was the last surviving officer of Company A and the last surviving Bedford Boy. He was one of 34 servicemen from the Bedford area who landed on the beaches of Nazi-held France during World War II in the first waves of the largest land, air and sea invasion in military history.

On June 6, 1944, 19 of the 34 Bedford men in Company A of the 116th Infantry were killed on Omaha Beach. The death toll is considered one of the largest per capita suffered by any American community during the invasion, a fact instrumental in establishing the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford.

Nance and the other Bedford Boys were members of the Virginia National Guard. The young men joined the Guard to earn an extra dollar during the years after the Great Depression. Before D-Day, none of the Boys had seen combat.

In Alex Kershaw's book "The Bedford Boys," Nance recounted crawling onto Omaha Beach and facing the corpses of fallen fellow soldiers from Company A that morning. As he scrambled for cover, he was hit in the right foot by enemy fire. He also suffered a shrapnel wound in one hand.

As Nance remembered dodging bullets, he described feelings of hopelessness and despair.

"They [bullets] came so close," Nance said in an interview with Kershaw. "Then, suddenly, when I thought there was no more hope, I looked up into the sky. I didn't see anything up there. But I felt something settle over me. I got this warm feeling. I felt as if somehow I was going to live."

Nance, who trained many of the Bedford Boys and felt responsible for their safety, was plagued by survivor's guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder and frequent nightmares. Despite it all, he maintained a sense of patriotism.

"Ray truly embodied the very best of that generation," said April Cheek-Messier, the National D-Day Foundation's director of education. "He was so incredibly humble about what he had been through. It was something he never bragged about. He said he was just doing his job."

The son of a Bedford County tobacco farmer, Nance married Bedford native Alpha Mae Watson in November 1944. At the time, both Nance and his bride were first lieutenants in the U.S. Army. She was a member of the Nurse Corps and he of the 29th Infantry Division.

After leaving the Army in December 1944, Nance returned to Bedford and worked as a postal carrier.

Although he encountered much opposition, Nance successfully reorganized Company A of the Virginia National Guard in Bedford, in an effort to honor the dead soldiers. By 1948, 124 men had joined the re-formed Company A. Nance was the company's first post-World War II commander.

Nance's daughter Sue Cobb of Front Royal doesn't remember hearing her father talk about D-Day much until the 1980s, when the 40th anniversary of the attack was commemorated.

"I guess you can say with the 40th anniversary, more recognition began to come to the D-Day landing," Cobb said. "From that time on, it was an extra. He was my father first and foremost."

When the National D-Day Memorial opened in Bedford in 2001, Nance did not come around much, according to Shannon Brooks, the memorial's associate for research and publications.

"It seemed painful for him to be there," Brooks said.

But after the January 2007 death of fellow Bedford Boy Roy Stevens, it seemed that Nance began to visit the memorial regularly, said Jim McCann, the site operations manager.

"For years he just didn't come up here," McCann said.

After Stevens' death, the Nances, who lived at the Elks National Home, would visit the memorial on a more frequent basis. The elderly couple would walk around and then sit on the deck for an hour or so, McCann said.

"Maybe he was trying to fill a role," he said, in an effort to explain the change. "I think he was doing what he could to honor the other guys who can't come anymore."

Cobb said that when her parents were unable to walk around the memorial, they would drive its scenic loop. Both of the Nances gave up their driver's licenses at 90.

"Unfortunately, we're losing so many from this generation," Cheek-Messier said. "It is more important than ever we get their stories so we can share them with the next generation."

D-Day officials estimate that the youngest of the D-Day veterans will be 83 years old for the 65th anniversary in June.