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Frank Draper—one of 20 men from tiny Bedford, Virginia, who died on D-Day—carried these binoculars as his landing craft approached Omaha Beach. A German shell struck the craft, and Draper was mortally wounded before he even reached shore. He was taken back to the troopship SS Empire Javelin, where a British sailor tried to render first aid, removing the binoculars from the dying man’s neck in an effort to provide comfort. Draper passed away within minutes; the man who tended to him, Bert Fuller, kept the binoculars for 61 years as a reminder of D-Day before returning them in 2005 to Draper’s family in Bedford.
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Surviving Objects From D-Day Speak Volumes on Sacrifice
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