American citizen dies fighting in Ukraine

‘He believed in what Ukraine was fighting for’

U.S. citizen Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, members of Cancel’s family confirmed to media outlets Friday.

Cancel’s mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN her son was hired in February by a private military contracting company on top of his full-time job as a corrections officer in Tennessee. When the war in Ukraine broke out, he agreed to go fight. “He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there, so it didn’t come here and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it,” Cabrera told CNN.

She said Cancel’s body had not been recovered.

Cancel was a native of Orange County, New York. The county’s executive, Steven Neuhaus, said he was saddened to hear of Cancel’s death.

“We will never forget Willy’s bravery and sacrifice, and Orange County’s thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time,” Neuhaus said in a statement.

Cancel is the first U.S. citizen known to have been killed while fighting in Ukraine, though other Americans have been killed during the war. Cancel leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old son, Fox News reported. Brittney Cancel, his widow, confirmed his death to Fox. “My husband did die in Ukraine,” she said, according to Fox. “He went there wanting to help people; he had always felt that that was his main mission in life.”

President Joe Biden was asked about Cancel’s death at the White House on Friday. “It’s very sad. He left a little baby behind,” Biden said.

Brittany Cancel received a call April 26 informing her of her husband’s death, according to a GoFundMe page set up by a man identifying himself as Willy Joseph Cancel’s father. The page raised more than $14,000 in less than a day.

“Our entire family is simply distraught and we have no idea how to continue,” the page reads.

Cabrera, Brittany and Cancel’s father did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment.

State Department principal deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter said Friday that the agency could not comment because of privacy considerations.

“We also do want to reiterate that U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine during this act of armed conflict – it is a very dangerous situation – and the singling out of U.S. citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials,” she said. “U.S. citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so, using commercial or privately available ground transportation options.”

In the Marines, Cancel served as a rifleman and was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He had no war zone deployments and was given a bad conduct discharge after he was convicted of violating a lawful general order, said Maj. Jim Stenger, a Marine Corps spokesperson. No other details on the bad conduct conviction were provided.

Until January, Cancel worked at a private prison in Tennessee; he started in May 2021, said Matthew Davio, a spokesperson for the private prison company CoreCivic. The Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a medium-security facility, is about an hour northeast of Nashville.

“As a correctional officer, Mr. Cancel served his state and his community by helping maintain a safe, secure environment where inmates can participate in life-changing reentry programs. We are grateful for his service and saddened by his loss,” Davio said in a statement.

Brittney Cancel told Fox that her husband had aspirations of becoming a police officer or firefighter.

“Naturally, when he found out about what was happening in Ukraine, he was eager to volunteer,” she told Fox.