Eighty years after he was killed in the Battle of Cherbourg, France, 1st Lt. Nathan Baskind has been laid to rest in an American military cemetery.

On June 23, Baskind was laid to rest with full military honors at the Normandy American Cemetery in France. The Pittsburgh native’s family and friends, as well as U.S. and local officials, were in attendance.

“Today is unique not just because we are burying and honoring an American soldier,” said Charles Djou, secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, in a news release from the commission. “Eighty years after 1st Lt. Baskind gave his last measure of devotion here in Normandy, ... this ceremony is the statement of the very best American values and human values.”

The American Battle Monuments Commission operates and maintains 26 cemeteries and 31 federal memorials, monuments and commemorative plaques in 17 countries throughout the world, including the one in Normandy and three in the United States. Since March 4, 1923, the commission has worked to honor the service, achievements and sacrifice of more than 200,000 U.S. service members buried and memorialized at its sites. 

In June 1944, Baskind was a platoon commander with Company C, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion. He landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and was killed 17 days later while fighting in the Battle of Cherbourg.

Several attempts were made to retrieve Baskind’s body from where he was ambushed, but his fellow soldiers couldn’t find him. After the war, investigators from the American Graves Registration Command learned that Baskind had been captured and later died at a hospital for German air force personnel near Cherbourg on June 23, 1944, according to the commission.

For 80 years, Baskind, a Jewish American, was buried in a German army mass grave with German soldiers. At the Normandy American Cemetery, he will be buried under a Star of David.

His burial was conducted in collaboration with Operation Benjamin, an organization dedicated to identifying and correcting burial errors of Jewish American soldiers buried under Latin crosses.

“Nate’s ambition was to be a successful businessman, and his favorite remark was, ‘As I live and breathe,’ ” said Samantha Baskind, a great-niece of the late lieutenant, in the news release. “Today, he will really be at rest in France. Today, a giant scar in my family will be at least partially healed.”