The years-long effort to build a memorial to Basque veterans who fought for the United States during World War II is gaining momentum as organizers continue to raise funds and identify men and women who served their country.
The project is being championed by Pedro Oiarzabal, who is a principal researcher for the “Fighting Basques: Memory of WWII” research team. The team is sponsored by the Basque Country homeland history association, Sancho de Beurko.
So far, Oiarzabal said, they have identified nearly 2,100 veterans of Basque origin who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II.
The group has made steady progress raising funds to create a memorial in the U.S. to honor the bravery and sacrifices of these veterans, who served in all branches of the military and fought across Europe and the Pacific.
“This is part of the history of the U.S. The Basques did their duty for their country,” Oiarzabal said while staffing a booth promoting the project at the international Jaialdi 2025 festival, which was held in Boise, Idaho in late July and early August.
Oiarzabal, who hails from the Basque Country, was in the U.S. promoting the project and delivering presentations, including at the Zortziak Bat International Symposium at Boise State University and the Nevada Historical Society in Reno.
The veterans identified by Oiarzabal and his team include Basque immigrants and Basque Americans such as Gregorio “George” Ascuena. Born in Gooding, Idaho, to parents from the Basque province of Bizkaia, Ascuena enlisted in the Marine Corps. before the start of the war.
He was stationed at an air field near Pearl Harbor when it was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, by the Japanese. Ascuena fought across the Pacific. He was awarded the Silver Star for rescuing a wounded comrade and directing air strikes amid withering enemy fire as U.S. forces fought to recapture the Philippines in 1945.
For Oiarzabal, the research has been moving. In an interview last year with Euskal Kazeta, he recalled an emotional meeting with a Basque American veteran. The man, who had never talked about the war, “suddenly broke into tears” after being interviewed for several hours,
For 10 years, Oiarzabal has been researching to find all the men and women of Basque origin in the United States who fought in World War II. He is focusing on veterans who immigrated to the U.S. from the Basque Country or who were the children or grandchildren of Basque immigrants.
The project to build the memorial is supported by the North American Basque Organizations. The goal is to build a national World War II memorial in a U.S. city to honor these veterans. Oiarzabal kicked off the fundraising campaign for the memorial last year at the 42nd Anniversary Celebration of the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco. NABO welcomes tax-deductible donations here.
The memorial will not only commemorate all World War II veterans of Basque origin, but it will also help educate the public about the sacrifices and contributions of Basques who helped battle tyranny in Europe and the Pacific.
Documenting the legacy of Basque soldiers, sailors and Marines has been a slow process. Researchers have scoured reams of historical archives, among other techniques, and then verified the Basque origins of each veteran. Biographies have been written for 1,600 veterans, according to Oiarzabal.
So far, the team has done research in all 50 states and in Washington D.C., and in Puerto Rico. The Sancho de Beurke association launched the project in 2015.
To publicize the exploits of the veterans, the team launched a blog, Echoes of Two Wars 1939-1945 in English, and Ecos de Dos Guerras in Spanish and Basque, and they promote the project on social media and through newspaper articles. The team has also been involved in special events and tributes to the veterans.
