Marine missing in Ukraine war

Iraq veteran and UCLA grad went to help civilians

Former Marine Corps officer Grady Kurpasi is the third American to go missing in Ukraine. Two other American veterans recently lost contact with family and are also feared to have been captured by Russian forces.

Kurpasi, who volunteered to join Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, left the United States in early March and arrived in Kyiv on March 21, said George Heath, a representative for his family. The 49-year-old was last heard from on April 26, when he was holding an observation post in the Kherson region so civilians could evacuate, Heath added. The veteran last spoke to family in the United States a few days before assignment.

Heath said Kurpasi’s cellphone signal was recently traced to the vicinity of a large shopping mall in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. He did not provide more detail.

Kurpasi lived in New York City during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and joined the Marines shortly after, Heath said. He called Kurpasi, who was his platoon commander between 2012 and 2014, a “great man” who has always “led from the front and led by example.”

During his 20 years of military service, Kurpasi took three combat tours in Iraq and earned a Purple Heart, according to his service record.

A University of California at Los Angeles linguistics graduate, he won a scholarship from the Pat Tillman Foundation, which gives education grants to promising leaders with a military background, in 2009.

Heath said Kurpasi intended to help civilians.

Marine Corps vet Willy Joseph Cancel, age 22, is believed to be the first American killed in the war. Early in June, Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Huynh, 27, went missing near the northeastern border city of Kharkiv.