The family of the American marine marine killed in Ukraine says the funeral in Kiev that he died fighting for freedom

Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – a funeral service took place on Friday in Kyiv for a US Navy Veteran while serving with Ukrainian forces. Family and friends said Ethan Hertweck, 21, gave his life fighting for freedom.

Hertweck, from California, has traveled to Ukraine shortly after Russia launched the country’s large -scale invasion in February 2022, initially helping some of millions of women and children running out of the country in the first days of the war.

After returning to the United States for several months, he returned to Ukraine to receive a medical license and trained Ukrainian troops before joining a fighting unit as a doctor.

In December 2023 he guarded a military bunker in the eastern industrial region of Donbas, when the Russian forces exceeded the position of his unit. When one of his unit was injured, Hertweck tried to pull him back in the safety of the bunker, but was hit by firearms in this process. He died shortly after.

At the funeral service of the Maidan Square in Kiev, the mother, father, sister and brother of Hertweck were presented with Ukrainian and American flags, as part of a military honor ceremony.

“He came here for your people”

Leslie Hertweck told those gathered that her son died in a “struggle for freedom”.

“He was taken too young and a real hero died,” she said in tears. “I am a very proud mother of what he did, that he came here for your people, for the land of Ukraine, to fight for freedom. And for that it was Ethan, it was Freedom. “

She described her son as “stubborn, he was strong, he was serious. But he loved and had a soft heart. “

“We know we will miss him. But we will see you in heaven, Ethan, while you are with my mother and everyone who left before us, ”she said. “Glory Ukrainians.”

Hertweck was initially classified as missing in action, and his family and military colleagues worked for months to recover their remains, which are believed to be behind the Russian lines after the territory near Avdiivka was captured by Moscow forces.

Finally, in December 2024, his body was part of a change between the Ukrainian and Russian military. With the assistance of RT Weatherman Foundation, a group that provides support and legal assistance to families of soldiers killed in Ukraine, was identified by its DNA.

His family intends to repatriate him in the United States and to rest in his native California.

“He goes home, as every marine should be”

Jay Andrus, 25 years old, a US Marine Veteran who trained in Ukraine with Hertweck, said the period that his friend was listed as missing for family and friends.

“It is good that I received his remains, because he haunts you knowing that your friend is there in the dirt and you don’t know where he is,” Andrus said. “He returned and returns home, as every marine should.”

He added that Hertweck, like so many foreign soldiers who fought for Ukraine during the war, “really, wanted to help people.”

“It is clear that the day: a country is invaded, innocent people die, women and children,” Andrus said. “Will you stay there with the training and lifestyle you are used to, watching the news and you do nothing about it? I understood why (Hertweck) came, this is why I came. “