World War II Veteran Nathan Baskind Finally Laid to Rest

Eighty years after his death during the Battle of Cherbourg, U.S. Lieutenant Nathan Baskind was finally laid to rest alongside his comrades at the Normandy American Military Cemetery in France.

Baskind, a Jewish American officer from Pittsburgh, had been missing for decades after landing on Utah Beach with the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion on D-Day. He lost his life during the fierce fighting on June 23, 1944. According to German military records, Baskind was ambushed, shot, and later taken as a prisoner of war. He succumbed to his wounds that same day and was interred in a mass grave with 23 other soldiers.

In the years following World War II, the cemetery holding Baskind’s remains was merged with another and subsequently relocated to the German War Cemetery in Marigny.

In 1957, efforts were made to identify his remains through the American Graves Registry, but those attempts were unsuccessful. His family was not informed of the efforts, although some of his personal effects, like his unit patch and dog tag, were recovered.

“Nathan Baskind is a unique story for all of us,” said Shalom Lamb, co-founder of Operation Benjamin, a nonprofit focused on correcting the headstones of Jewish American soldiers who were buried under crosses instead of the Star of David. Lamb explained that the reasons behind such discrepancies can be complicated.

Interestingly, a genealogist working for Operation Benjamin stumbled upon Baskind’s name while scanning a database of German military cemeteries. “It seemed odd,” he noted, as Nathan wasn’t a name typically found in German records.

After this lead, Operation Benjamin embarked on a mission to trace Baskind’s family. They soon found his great-niece, Samantha Baskind, an author and professor, who had been unaware of her great-uncle’s fate. “When I first heard about Uncle Nate, I was shocked. Initially, I thought it couldn’t be true,” she admitted.

If anything, the lack of closure around Nathan’s disappearance felt like a “jagged scar” in their family, Samantha remarked.

To bring Jewish American soldiers back from mass graves, Operation Benjamin had to get permissions from several nations, including Germany and France. Initially, Brigadier General Dirk Bakken of the German War Graves Commission was hesitant to cooperate, having seen previous attempts to identify Baskind’s remains fail.

However, after reconsidering and seeing a heartfelt video from Samantha, he decided to allow the efforts to be renewed. A dedicated team was later assembled to excavate the grave where Baskind was believed to be buried.

They meticulously examined thousands of bones, looking for one that matched Baskind’s known height—5 feet 5 inches, which he joked was a good height for a tank. Ultimately, they achieved a DNA match to Baskind’s descendants, confirming his identity.

Once Samantha received the news about the match, she was overwhelmed. “It felt surreal to plan a burial for someone I never met,” she said, reflecting on the emotional weight of the task at hand.

On June 23, 2024, exactly 80 years after his death, Lieutenant Nathan Baskind was honored with a military burial, complete with Jewish rites, at the American Cemetery in Normandy. For Samantha, witnessing her uncle finally receive a proper grave under the Star of David brought a long-awaited sense of closure. “I am so proud that we found him and can carry his memory forward,” she expressed.

For Brigadier General Bakken, participating in Bazkind’s reburial also carried a personal significance, especially as his own great-uncle fought in the same area during the war. He pondered the historic path that could have unfolded had both men survived.

In reflecting on the past, Bakken stated that the effort to honor Baskind symbolizes a new chapter in German-American relations. “We’ve chosen a different path now,” he noted, emphasizing that war brings sorrow even amid victory. For Lamb, Baskind’s recovery highlights the sacrifices made by American soldiers to protect freedoms that many take for granted. “These individuals gave their all for a better tomorrow,” he said.

Samantha Baskind sees her great-uncle’s story as a testament to the often-overlooked contributions of Jewish Americans in the military. “His legacy shows that freedom is never truly free,” she concluded.