Willy Joseph Cancel, was killed on Monday while working with a private military contracting company in Ukraine (a job for which he was paid), his mother told CNN. Cancel, 22, was a former U.S. Marine and corrections officer in Tennessee.
According to CNN, Cancel joined the private contractor near the end of February, shortly before the Russian invasion into Ukraine began.
Former marine Willy Joseph Cancel who was killed in Ukraine.Willy Cancel/Facebook
“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,” his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.
She added that her son was someone who “always put everybody ahead of himself.”
“He always kept everybody laughing and calm,” she said. “He was the man that stood up when everybody else stood back.”
Cabrera told the outlet her son flew to Poland on March 12 and then crossed into Ukraine shortly after. His body, she added, has still not been found.
“They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us,” she told CNN.
While the U.S. military is not on the ground in Ukraine — where Russia’sattack on the countrycontinues after its forces launched a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24 — some veterans have opted to travel to the country despite the considerable risks.
Hundreds of Americans have contacted Ukraine’s embassy in Washington, D.C., eager to assist the country as itfights against Russian invaders. Ukraine’s own foreign minister solicited volunteers to assist with the fighting days after Russia invaded in February.
In an advisory posted to its website, thedepartment saidthat although it was “not a crime under U.S. law for an individual to go abroad for the purpose of enlisting in a foreign army,” it could be a violation if that person was recruited or hired in America — and could even be grounds for “the relinquishment of U.S. citizenship.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment concerning Cancel’s death.
source: people.com
