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Nathan B. Baskind
Nathan Baskind
Birth nameNathan Bob Baskind
Nickname(s)Nate
Born1916 (1916)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
DiedJune 23, 1944(1944-06-23) (aged 27–28)
Near Cherbourg, Normandy, France
Buried
Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branchUnited States Army
Years of service1942–1944
RankFirst Lieutenant
Unit899th Tank Destroyer Battalion
Battles / warsWorld War II
AwardsPurple Heart

Nathan 'Nate' Bob Baskind (1916 – June 23, 1944) was a Jewish-American officer in the United States Army's 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion who served during World War II.[1] He was killed in action near Cherbourg, Normandy, shortly after the D-Day landings. Baskind's remains were unidentified for decades until advances in DNA technology led to his identification, after eighty years, in 2024. He was reburied with military and Jewish honors at the Normandy American Cemetery in June 2024.[2][3][4]

Early life and background

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Baskind was born in 1916 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a Jewish family of Eastern European immigrants who settled in Pittsburgh.[4] He was the son of Abraham 'Abe' Baskind and Lena Shapiro. He grew up in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, and was managing the family's business before joining the army.[5] Baskind enlisted 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.[2][3][6]

Military service and death

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Baskind enlisted in the Army in 1942.[5] 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 Marigny German War 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,[a] that the remains of his son "were unrecoverable".[4] 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. However, the remains could not be separated or identified at the time.[5]

Rediscovery and reburial

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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.[3]

Separately, in 2022, American genealogist Eric Feinstein accidently found Baskind's name on the German War Graves Commission website and contacted Operation Benjamin, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring Jewish-American servicemembers. After obtaining permission from religious and governmental authorities, Operation Benjamin organized the exhumation of remains at Marigny in December 2023.[7][8]

Identification process

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The team of experts who exhumed his remains from the mass grave faced significant challenges.[b] French anthropologists and forensic experts identified Baskind’s remains through mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA testing. Relatives, including his great-niece Samantha Baskind,[c] provided DNA samples for comparison. By February 2024, the identification was confirmed.[9]

Reburial ceremony

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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.[6][10]

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.[11][9]

Family

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Baskind's great niece, Samantha Baskind,[c] wrote an opinion piece on the event for CNN.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "1st Lt NATHAN B BASKIND - Service Member Profile". Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Mack-Jackson, Benjamin. "After 80 years in a Nazi grave, Jewish American WWII hero reburied under Star of David". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Nathan Baskind, le soldat juif américain inhumé pendant 80 ans dans un cimetière militaire allemand". France 24 (in French). June 22, 2024. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Baskind, Samantha (June 21, 2024). "Opinion: My uncle Nate was lost on D-Day. At last, he is being buried with honor". CNN. Retrieved December 24, 2024. Last spring I learned the unthinkable: My great uncle, 1st Lt. Nathan B. Baskind of the US Army who landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day –– and stayed missing in action for almost 80 years –– was buried under three gothic stone crosses in that French region's German Military Cemetery.
  5. ^ a b c Freedman, Dan (June 24, 2024). "Jewish World War II Soldier Finally Rests In Peace". Moment Magazine. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Une plaque commémorative bientôt dévoilée en mémoire du lieutenant Nathan Baskind". actu.fr (in French). December 7, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  7. ^ MICHEL, Gaëlle LE ROUX et Emilie (June 24, 2024). "«Juif, il était enterré parmi les Allemands» : ce soldat retrouve les siens après une longue enquête". Ouest-France.fr (in French). Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  8. ^ Sisk, Richard (June 21, 2024). "Remains of Jewish D-Day Soldier Lost for 80 Years in Nazi Mass Grave Will Be Buried in Normandy". Military.com. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  9. ^ a b Reinherz, Adam (December 30, 2024). "Jewish soldier who died in World War II finally laid to rest". jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
  10. ^ Park Avenue Synagogue (October 15, 2024). Rabbi Cosgrove: Lt. Nathan Baskind, z"l (Kol Nidrei, 2024). Retrieved January 4, 2025 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ "80 Years Later, WWII Soldier Laid to Rest in Normandy". AUSA. June 25, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2025.

Notes

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  1. ^ From the Army's Memorial Division.
  2. ^ Erin Sweeney McBride, the vice president of forensic operations at Bode Technology, explained. "The level of degradation, and things like water, sun, or bacteria all degrade DNA. In this case, we were worried about the water table in the grave and the bacteria, as well as the age."
  3. ^ a b Samantha Baskind, Distinguished Professor of Art History at Cleveland State University, is an American Jewish art historian and a scholar of Jewish cultural studies. She serves as Series Editor of Dimyonot: Jews and the Cultural Imagination and Museums Correspondent for Smithsonian Magazine.

See also

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