Nathan Baskind

Baskind was born in 1916 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a Jewish family of Eastern European immigrants who settled in Pittsburgh. Baskind was drafted in the United States Army during the early years of World War II. He served in the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, commanding a platoon of M10 tank destroyers. == Military service and death ==

Baskind was drafted in the Army in 1942. He landed at Utah Beach as part of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. On June 22, 1944, he was ambushed near La Hague while scouting ahead of his unit. He was wounded by German machine gun fire and captured. Treated initially at a Luftwaffe hospital in Cherbourg, Baskind succumbed to his injuries the following day, June 23, 1944. With Cherbourg under imminent American control, Baskind's body was interred in a local mass grave alongside German soldiers at the Cherbourg Community Cemetery. Post-war efforts to locate Baskind's remains were unsuccessful. His father wrote to the army for years after the war inquiring about his son. He was told in July 1949, by Lieutenant Colonel W.E. Campbell, that the remains of his son "were unrecoverable". In 1957, his identification tag were found by the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge) during a relocation of graves to the German military cemetery at Marigny, France. However, the remains could not be separated or identified at the time. == Rediscovery and reburial ==

The rediscovery of Baskind's remains began in 2019, when British guide Matt Key, conducting tours of D-Day sites, learned of Baskind’s story from a family member. Together with fellow guide Sean Claxton, Key investigated Baskind's fate, consulting archives and confirming his name on records at the Marigny cemetery. == Identification process ==

The team of German, French, and American experts who exhumed his remains from the mass grave faced significant challenges. Among thousands of bones, American and French anthropologists and forensic experts identified potential remains of Baskind based on bone lengths. Samples of those bones were analyzed by Bode Technologies in the US through mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA testing. Relatives, including his great-niece Samantha Baskind, provided DNA samples for comparison. By February 2024, the identification was confirmed by Bode, and official US government confirmation was subsequently confirmed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). == Reburial ceremony and legacy ==

On June 23, 2024, 80 years to the day after his death, Baskind was reburied at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, under a headstone marked with the Star of David. His reburial was one of the rare new interments at the cemetery and the first conducted in accordance with Jewish traditions. The ceremony was attended by military officials, dignitaries, and Baskind's family. A rosette was placed next to Baskind's name on the memorial wall of the cemetery to indicate he was no longer missing. This was the first time in the cemetery’s history that next of kin, Samantha Baskind, rather than cemetery staff, placed the rosette next to a fallen soldier’s name. June 5th, 2025, General Dirk fulfilled a commitment to honor 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind at the Marigny German War Cemetery. The German War Graves Commission installed an interactive knowledge board about many of the soldiers buried in this WWII German war cemetery, including the story of Nathan B. Baskind. More significantly, they created a small designated theater with a movie about Nathan Baskind including and especially his Jewish roots. == Family ==

Baskind's great niece, Samantha Baskind, wrote an opinion piece on the event for CNN. == References ==