In a ceremony at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, the remains of Army 1st Lt. Nathan Baskind, a Jewish-American soldier who died in 1944, were transferred to US officials. Baskind’s remains had been found buried in a mass grave with Nazi soldiers in occupied France.

The identification and return of Baskind’s remains mark only the second time a group outside the Defense Department has successfully identified a missing US service member. The German War Grave Commission partnered with the PFC Lawrence Gordon Foundation and Operation Benjamin to disinter and identify Baskind’s remains.

Baskind, 28, from Pittsburgh, survived D-Day but died in a German air force hospital on June 23, 1944, after being ambushed and briefly taken prisoner. He was buried with others who perished at the facility.

The identification process began last year, and a team of specialists, including an anthropologist, forensic odontologist, and DNA firm Bode Technology, worked together to identify Baskind’s remains. The process took three months and cost around $50,000, paid for by Operation Benjamin.

On Tuesday, Baskind’s remains were handed over to Army mortuary affairs, and he will be reburied on June 23 at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)