Jun 5, 2024 2 min read

Thursday will mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion by the Allied Forces against Nazi Germany. My father, who would have been 102 years-old in May and was a great student of history, participated in the battle. I am sure if he were still alive that he would be reflecting upon the 80-year span, and how exactly 80 years prior to that battle, the United States was divided and involved in the Civil War.

The battle of Cold Harbor at Mechanicsville Va., occurred from May 31, 1864 to June 12th 1864. It was the last major victory for Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army during that terrible war. The Union Army lost 12,737 men and the Confederate Army lost 4,595 men, with the heaviest fighting happening on June 3, 1864. My father’s grandfather was fighting for the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg a year prior to that, and my father often mentioned that he wishes he could have shared some of his grandfather’s experiences when he was a child.

I am sure my father would be sad but not surprised to know that even 80 years after the battle for France, there are still people fighting for freedoms from oppression and for survival in the Middle East and on the continents of Europe and Asia.

Ralph Gatten

Scenery Hill