The remains of a U.S. Marine veteran who was missing in Ukraine for more than a year were returned to eastern North Carolina on Friday.
The plane with the remains of retired Marine Capt. Grady Kurpasi landed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in the early evening for a brief ceremony in his hometown before they were loaded onto a private jet to Wilmington.
Kurpasi volunteered in February 2022 to help evacuate people in Ukraine and later fought in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.
Officials say he and a British man, Andrew Hill, were investigating the source of gunfire in southern Ukraine in April 2022 and the men radioed back to their team that they were under fire. Hill was captured by Russian-backed forces and has reportedly been charged with being a mercenary.
His remains were recovered by the Weatherman Foundation, a group that works to protect children, defend human rights, and promote democracy around the world.
The foundation's Andrew Duncan said, "Grady is a hero for helping to protect the innocent children of Ukraine from an indicted war criminal. As children in occupied Kherson were forced to breathe the constant smell of burning dead Russian soldiers, we, as fellow Americans, share a core moral ideal: we never leave Americans behind. Ever."
The group worked for months to find Kurpasi's remains and his wife Heeson Kim said, "Our family is deeply grateful to the Weatherman Foundation for their tireless efforts to find our beloved Grady's remains and to bring him home to us.”
The 50-year-old Iraq War veteran was dead last month by the U.S. State Department.