The remains of a Jewish-American soldier who was killed in 1944 and mistakenly buried with Nazis in a mass grave located in France were delivered to the United States for reburial in Tennessee set for June 23 following a special operation.
1st Lt. Nathan Baskind from Pittsburgh, was 28-years-old when he died. He survived the Allies’ D-Day invasion in World War II but was wounded and captured two weeks later and hospitalized in a German Air Force hospital.
Two American organizations worked with the German Embassy in Israel to help identify Baskind's remains, which had been mixed in a mass grave in Cherbourg, Normandy.
"I am profoundly thankful for the extraordinary lengths that all of those groups have gone to," said Samantha Baskind, the Jewish soldier’s great-niece.
According to U.S. Army reports, Baskind and another soldier were on patrol south of Cherbourg on June 23, 1944 (17 days after the D-Day invasion). The other soldier, who believed Baskind had died from his wounds, managed to return to his unit despite his severe injuries.
After the war, the Germans submitted Baskind’s death and burial report, which said he died while being treated at a German Air Force hospital in Cherbourg. He was buried in a local military cemetery. In 1957, the remains of 24 German soldiers from a mass grave in Cherbourg were dispersed, and objects belonging to Baskind were likely found.
After a weeks-long operation costing $50,000, Baskind's remains were collected and handed over to the U.S. Army on Tuesday.
First published: 19:11, 05.30.24