“I thought I would never live to see the end of that day,” said Mount Sinai Beth Israel patient Robert Cohen, recollecting his experience as a young U.S. infantryman landing on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. Mr. Cohen spent the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing with Alene, his wife of 66 years, his son Michael, two of his eight grandchildren, and Mount Sinai Beth Israel staff, discussing the events of that day, when he was one of 20,000 Allied troops landing at Utah Beach, the westernmost flank of the Normandy invasion.
During World War II, Mr. Cohen fought in six campaigns in eight countries in North Africa, and southern and western Europe, earning a Bronze Star and the French Legion of Honor.
Mr. Cohen said he usually celebrates June 6 as if it were a birthday by taking his family to a French restaurant. After the war, he and Alene raised four children on Long Island, where he worked in the packaging industry.
Susan Somerville, RN, President of Mount Sinai Beth Israel, and Mary Walsh, RN, MSN, Chief Nursing Officer at Mount Sinai Beth Israel presented Mr. Cohen with a special pin and a framed Certificate of Recognition for his service to the United States.