Dole had correct information; story got it wrong

To the editor:

Your newspaper quotes former Sen. Bob Dole as saying, "In a single, terrible day, we lost more Americans than died in the Civil War" or died on the beaches of Normandy.

Since there were about 2,000 American casualties on D-Day, Dole may be correct.

However, in the War Between the States, the Union armies had around 110,070 battle deaths and the Confederates had around 94,000.

Exact numbers of casualties in any of these tragedies may never be known, but the estimates can be verified by any encyclopedia or a quick search on the Internet.

BILL HOPKINS

Marble Hill, Mo.

Editor's note: Bill Hopkins is correct. Dole said the events of Sept. 11 killed more Americans than died in the Revolutionary War, which had 4,435 battle deaths. The reporter inadvertently included the wrong information in the story.