 The losses by the soldiers from Bedford were chronicled in the best-selling book "The Bedford Boys" by Alex Kershaw, and helped inspire the movie "Saving Private Ryan".The movie's director, Steven Spielberg, helped fund the memorial, including funding for the creation of the Arnold M. Spielberg Theater, in honor of his father, a World War II veteran.The National D-Day Memorial Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3)organization that had its beginnings as a small committee in 1988 with the prospect of building a memorial to dedicate the sacrifices made by the Allied Forces on D-Day.