by Sancho de Beurko Association In recent weeks, one family contacted Sancho de Beurko, a nonprofit historical association based in the Basque Country and responsible for the “Fighting Basques” research project, asking about relatives lost during World War II. Beyond a few names and fragmented recollections, very little about them had survived within the family over […]
by Sancho de Beurko Association A centenarian World War II veteran reflects on memory, sacrifice, and the effort to build the National Basque WWII Veterans Memorial in Gardnerville, Nevada. At 104 years old, Regina “Reggie” Bastida is among the last living World War II veterans of Basque origin — and one of the few remaining voices of the […]
by Sancho de Beurko Association From Family Memory to National Recognition For decades, the story of Basques and Basque Americans who served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II lived quietly within families and local communities — preserved in fading photographs, personal letters, and stories shared at kitchen tables, yet largely absent […]
Between them, these three Basque-American brothers had 27 years of military service, a third of them during World War II. This article originally appeared in its Spanish form in El Diario. In February 1952, the Reno Gazette-Journal proclaimed the Basque-American brothers John, Leon, and William Etchemendy Trounday as “the most decorated group of brothers in […]
