She Lost Two Sons on D-Day, but a Miraculous Find Gave Her Comfort

Grieving the loss of two sons in the invasion of France in 1944, one mother received a gift that she would treasure the rest of her life. 

Bedford and Raymond Hoback were one of 33 sets of brothers fighting together on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

In mid-July, the family learned the tragic news that both had been killed, but within days of the news a small package arrived in the mail: Raymond's Bible, given to him by his mother, which he carried with him to war.

The men's sister, Lucille Boggess, told CBN News what it meant to her mother to have the Bible.

"She always said that, next to having her son, she wanted his Bible. She always treasured it as long as she lived."

Raymond's mother gave him the Bible as a Christmas gift in 1938, when he was 18 years old. 

Faith was a central part of their upbringing, Boggess said.

The family home was right across the street from the Methodist church so "we had to go, whether we wanted to or not," she laughed.

The church was so small that "if you couldn't sing, you had to pretend."

The Bible clearly meant a lot to Raymond, she said, because he carried it with him through training and in his pack onto the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

That's where another solider found it the day after Raymond and his brother went ashore.

"I thought it so nice that this young soldier took time to stop and pick up a Bible from the sand," Lucille said. "That was the most amazing thing to me."

It arrived at their home just a few days after the family received the news that their sons were gone.

Survivors from his company recalled seeing Raymond's body in the surf. Like many others, it was carried out to sea and never recovered, but apparently the Bible came out of his pack where it was found by another soldier who picked it up and mailed it to the family.

From time on, the men's mother kept the Bible in her parlor with her other treasured possesions and today, Lucille treasures it, as well.