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... Hertweck, from California, traveled to Ukraine soon after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, initially assisting some of the millions of women and children who were fleeing the country in the earliest days of the war.

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

In December 2023 he was guarding a military bunker in the eastern industrial region of the Donbas when Russian forces overtook his unit's position. When one of his unit was wounded, Hertweck attempted to drag him back to the safety of the bunker but was hit by gunfire in the process. He died soon after.

At the funeral service in Kyiv's Maidan Square, Hertweck's mother, father, sister and brother were presented with Ukrainian and U.S. flags as part of a military honors ceremony.

He came here for your people'

Leslie Hertweck told those gathered that her son had died in a "fight for freedom."

"He was taken too young and he died a true hero," she said through tears. "I'm a very proud mom of what he did, that he came here for your people, for the country of Ukraine, to fight for freedom.

And that's what Ethan stood for, was freedom." ...