These Americans gave their lives fighting for Ukraine — and now their parents are sending a message directly to President Trump.
“Our loved ones … stood up for what is right. My son, and so many others, said, ‘It’s clear to see that this war is a war of good versus evil,” said Terri Hepworth, the mother of Dane Alan Partridge, who was killed in 2022.
“I still don’t think President Trump really understands clearly what our loved ones did. I’d like him, and Congress, to actually talk to us and hear our stories.”
Dozens of parents who spoke to The Post said they are encouraged by Trump’s growing support for Kyiv — and want him to hear why their sons gave their lives for a foreign country.
Their children were called to travel halfway around the world for the same reason they served in the US military — a deep belief in freedom for all.
“If you read the Russians, they do not fight Ukraine; they fight America and Western civilization in general,” said Gennediy Baturan, whose son David was killed in action two years ago Tuesday. “This is the underlying reason why our sons went to war.”
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has OK’d sharing intelligence on Russian oil refinery targets with Ukraine as the president considers allowing Kyiv to buy powerful Tomahawk missiles to ramp up the pressure on Russia to end its war.
“Trump’s support means that hopefully I can travel there, meet the people that [my son] Dalton fought and died for,” grieving father Warren Medlin said.
“It means maybe I can go to the area where he died, touch the ground, feel his energy, presence, just to be close to him for a while.”
At least 4,000 foreign fighters from all over the world were fighting for Ukraine, according to estimates. Many joined foreign legion units that were established after the war. Others — especially those with high level skills and experience — were attached to regular Ukraine military units.
There is no official count of US citizens who have died fighting for Ukraine, but the Museum of the History of Ukraine found that 92 Americans have been killed in action.
Here are some of their stories.
Dane Alan Partridge — May 4, 1988 – Oct. 11, 2022
Partridge, 34, joined the US Army after high school, serving in Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division as an infantryman and Bradley infantry fighting vehicle driver. Years later, despite marrying and becoming a father, he felt compelled to aid Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, Hepworth said.
“The feeling that he should go to Ukraine to help kept nagging at him … In the end, he talked with my husband and finally me,” she said.
“I expressed my feelings that if he went, he’d not return. He expressed that he didn’t come back from Iraq,” she said, referring to the toll that witnessing war had already taken on his mind.
“As we sat in silence, I heard a voice tell me to let him go. So I did. He had skills that would help them.”
In Ukraine, Partridge used his US military experiences to “help men become better soldiers,” training them on M2 Browning heavy machine guns and taking on logistics, reconnaissance and de-mining missions.
Instead of coming home after injuring his foot when it caught on a mine’s tripwire, Partridge doubled down on his service.
“In his last final battle, he took prisoners, cleared spider holes and bunkers. When ammo was gone he and two Ukrainians provided cover so the others could fall back,” his mother said.
“Dane took a direct hit from shrapnel from a tank, breaking his neck. He died eight days later in hospital.”
Cedric Charles Hamm — Sept. 26, 1997 – March 15, 2024
Cedric Charles Hamm left for Ukraine in January 2024, months after his US Army service ended.
A veteran of Afghanistan, he felt compelled to train new members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but “quickly changed his path to serve in an elite group of foreign fighters of special operations,” according to his mother, Rachel.
“Most of his unit died in combat on March 15, 2024 in the Sumy Oblast region,” she said. “It was his first mission.”
With Hamm initially reported missing in action, Rachel became resigned to the fact that she would likely never see him again, or give him a proper burial if he was done.
But months later, a volunteer with the R.T. Weatherman Foundation informed her they believed they found her son’s body.
The foundation had identified him through both a DNA match to his mother — and the American flag tattoo on his arm.
“My son’s valor is an opportunity for our country and world to know society must value a person’s freedom as he did, dying for the people of Ukraine,” Rachel said. “My family would like the world to learn from his death what it means to be a selfless and die-hard patriot.”
Edward “Eli” Wilton — March 23, 2001 – April 7, 2023
Frustrated that the Biden administration “wasn’t doing anything” to fight off Russia’s aggression, US Army veteran Edward “Eli” Wilton “felt called to go fight for freedom,” his mother Amy Broome said.
Knowing one of his grandmothers was from Ukraine, Wilton told his mother he would be joining Kyiv’s foreign legion.
“Freedom isn’t just for America, Mom. I feel like I am supposed to defend my heritage,” Broome recalled her son saying.
Broome last saw her son about a week before he was killed when she visited him in neighboring Poland. There, he told her: “Mom, don’t fret — I live this life with no regret. I’m good with my Lord and Savior.”
“He smirked and sent on me on my way with memorabilia for his little brother,” she said.
Collin Teem — March 30, 2001 – May 11, 2024
Collin Teem, a former Marine Corps machine gunner, received his honorable discharge in July 2023. Just two months later, he volunteered to fight in Ukraine, believing its people deserved the same freedom Americans enjoy.
For eight months he served with courage, ultimately giving his life in a mission that allowed his team to reach safety, according to his mother Dawn.
“We were told that he and another guy who also was killed that mission helped allow his team in the field to get to safety,” she said.
“He fell in love with the beautiful land, as well as the people of Ukraine,” Dawn added.
“He always said how grateful the people were — but that he didn’t feel like a hero because he was just there helping, doing what he knew best.”
Corey Nawrocki — May 3, 1982 – Oct. 27, 2024
Corey Nawrocki served 20 years in the Marine Corps, completing six tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, before retiring from the service with two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with valor.
Nawrocki was pursuing his masters degree in human resources when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and decided to serve again.
“He felt he may be able to help, with his experience. He thought it was horrible how Russia was committing horrible acts on Ukraine and her people,” his mother, Sandy, said. “He told me, ‘Mom, this is what I do and pretty good at it.’”
At his mother’s request, Nawrocki finished his degree — but told her the day after graduation that he would be headed to Ukraine to join the foreign forces. He would die on the battlefield on Oct. 27, 2024.
“Corey was my only child,” Sandy Nawrocki said. “His father died in an auto accident when Corey was only 8 months old. I never remarried or had any more children. It was always him and I.”
She added: “I am very proud of my son and all he has done and his conviction to do what he thought was the right thing to do.”
Ethan Hertweck — July 17, 2002 – Dec. 4, 2023
Ethan Hertweck wanted to join the Marine Corps at 17, but was honorably discharged at boot camp due to a rare blood disorder, according to his mother, Leslie.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Hertweck went overseas on his own, first helping rescue women and children stranded in the war-torn country. At age 20, he returned, trained as a combat medic in Poland, and joined Ukrainian field units, teaching lifesaving skills before signing on with the 131st Reconnaissance Battalion, then the 59th Brigade.
Hertweck became a team medic and bonded deeply with his fellow fighters. On Dec. 4, 2023, during a mission in Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, he was killed trying to save a teammate.
Ethan’s body was recovered in a prisoner exchange more than a year later, allowing his family to bring him home for burial in Los Angeles.
Friends and comrades remember Ethan as wise beyond his years, and dedicated to the Ukrainian cause. Leslie Hertweck said her son was guided by the belief that “all that’s necessary for evil to triumph is when good men do nothing.”
Dalton Medlin — Dec. 29, 2000 – Sept. 27, 2023
From childhood, Dalton Medlin was fascinated by the military. He joined the Army as an infantryman right out of high school. After he left the service, civilian life never filled the void.
“He could tell you the specs from any number of military equipment,” said his father Warren, recalling how Dalton set traps and built bunkers for mock battles with friends as a child.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, “he saw this as an opportunity to use his skills to help,” according to Warren Medlin. Dalton saved up his money for a one-way ticket to Poland, and soon found a new family among Ukraine’s defenders.
“Once there, he fell in love with the people, the culture, and the fact that the country was so united in its battle against Russia — no politics, just survival,” Warren Medlin said.
Fellow soldiers affectionately called Dalton “Gimli,” after the loyal dwarf warrior from “The Lord of the Rings,” describing him as “selfless, loyal, and a friend, who would make any sacrifice for his brothers.”
On Sept. 27, 2023, Dalton did just that, after his unit was pinned down and slaughtered by Russian soldiers.
“Dalton’s fellow soldiers were wounded, then drug out into the open, and executed,” Warren Medlin said. “The enemy made sure a drone was overhead so his brothers would see.
“[The Russians] then took his equipment, and booby trapped his body.”
Winton ‘Bud’ Hardy — May 11, 1983 – June 10, 2024
Winton Hardy was a man of conviction who chose to live — and die — on his own terms, his family said.
“Bravery isn’t just about being fearless,” said his brother Will. “It’s about knowing the risks, feeling the fear, and pushing forward anyway.”
When Winton went to Ukraine, it was to protect. Under heavy enemy fire, Bud evacuated the wounded, willingly walking into many people’s worst nightmare.
“He wasn’t just fighting a war; he was fighting for people, for innocent lives,” his brother shared.
“There’s an old saying from World War II, one a friend once told me, and it’s stuck with me ever since: ‘War makes men the way motherhood makes women.’ And Bud became exactly what war demanded — strong, fearless, and unwavering.”
Ian Frank Tortorici — May 10, 1991 – June 27, 2023
Marine veteran Ian Frank Tortorici had built a steady career as a park ranger and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent when he quietly made a life-altering decision days after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Without telling his family or [his girlfriend] Nadia, Ian quit his job and traveled to Ukraine,” arriving on March 3, 2022, recounted his father, John Frank.
At first, Ian served as a medic in Irpin during the battle for Kyiv, using the EMT skills he’d learned as a park ranger. But his family believes the atrocities he witnessed led him to join volunteer as a machine gunner with the International Legion under Ukraine’s Department of Intelligence.
Though Tortorici had never seen combat as a Marine, he proved himself among seasoned veterans in high-risk operations.
By December 2022, only six members of his original 16-man team were left. Still, “Ian made the commitment to stay until the war was over, his father said.
On June 27, 2023, after a trench assault near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ian and three comrades stopped at a restaurant in Kramatorsk. A Russian spy marked their location, and two ballistic missiles struck soon after.
Ian was killed alongside 13 others, including children.
Alexander William Banas — April 18, 1999 – May 29, 2025
Marine Corps veteran Alexander William Banas, known as Alex, volunteered to fight in Ukraine because “he firmly believed that everyone deserved to live under democracy and to be free from tyranny,” his father, Joseph, said.
“He felt he was made to help in this fight and was determined that nothing would stop him from being a Legionnaire.”
David Gennadiyouvich Baturin — May 20, 1997 – Oct. 7, 2023
Born in Kyiv, David Baturin immigrated to the US with his parents at age 9, settling in Ohio. As an adult, he became an HVAC technician, then joined the US Air Force.
David later switched to the Marines, saying the Air Force was “not challenging enough,” recalled his father, Gennadiy.
When war broke out in Ukraine, David initially sent money to Kyiv’s war effort — about $10,000 in the first year of the conflict — but soon prepared himself to join the fight, spending long hours at a local firing range, undergoing physical training and studying Ukrainian.
“I am confident,” his parents recalled him telling them. “My place is in Ukraine. I am trained, and they need trained people.”
Gennadiy Baturin said he and David’s mother apprised their son of the risks — PTSD, injury, capture or “the unimaginable,” at one point asking: “But what if you get killed, son?”
According to Gennadiy, David looked her in the eyes and answered in flawless Ukrainian: “Then you will be proud of me, Mom.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, while holding a defensive line just feet from the enemy, a Russian tank shell struck his shelter, his father said.
David Baturin was killed, but his unit held their position.
