Grady Kurpasi Wiki
Grady Kurpasi Biography
Who is Grady Kurpasi ?
A retired senior military veteran has been named as the third American missing in Ukraine, after going missing while fighting in April and having been unable to make contact since.
US Navy Veteran Ret. Capt. Grady Kurpasi left for Ukraine in March, according to CNN, and has not been heard from since April. No trace of him has been found, raising fears that he may have been murdered.
He had been living in Wilmington, North Carolina, before leaving for the Eastern European country.
Captain Kurpasi had recently retired from the US Army in November 2021, after serving in the US Marine Corps for 20 years.
He decided to volunteer alongside the Ukrainians in Ukraine, but he didn’t see himself fighting on the front lines, a family friend said.
“For him personally, he has a skill set that he feels he can bring back,” George Heath told CNN. He wanted to go and help the Ukrainian people. He really wasn’t planning to fight.
Kurpasi had arrived in the country on March 7 and was in the capital on March 21. He was last heard from around April 23-24, according to Heath.
At the end of April, he was assigned the task of manning an observation post near Kherson. It was at this time that he stopped communicating with those in the US.
The US military said the two men had served in the US military in the past, Huynh for the Marine Corps and Drueke in the Army Reserves, but provided no information on their current whereabouts.
The US military has repeatedly denied that US troops are deployed in Ukraine and has told veterans that there are better ways to help Ukraine than respond to calls from Kyiv to fight there.
Drueke, who turns 40 this month, was a former US Army staff sergeant who served two tours in Iraq and volunteered with the Ukrainian Army.
After returning from Iraq, he struggled to find work or reintegrate into society after returning from the war.
The platoon he was with was heavily attacked on June 9 and the group had to fall back.
Everyone was in the platoon the two of them were fighting with, except for Dureke and Huynh. There seemed to be no sign of any of the following drone surveys.
All were accounted for except Dureke and Huynh. There seemed to be no sign of any of the following drone surveys.
“This could mean they are in hiding or it could mean they have been captured,” Drueke’s mother, Bunny Drueke, said in a statement to Fox News. She said that the last time she spoke to her son was June 5 and that she received a text message a few days later on June 9.
The last time she spoke to her son on the phone was June 5 and the last time she received a text message was June 8.
It will be dark for most of tomorrow. Possibly the next day too,’ the last text message from her read.
Five days later, on June 13, she received a text message from another member of her son’s platoon informing him of her disappearance.
“When Russia invaded Ukraine, Alex told me right away that he wanted to use his skills to train the Ukrainians on how to operate American weapons,” Bunny said. He is not married, has no children and has the training and experience. She felt that it was his duty to help defend democracy, wherever necessary.
She said she was driven by fear that Putin would not stop in Ukraine and try to invade the rest of Europe.
Drueke left the United States in mid-April and arrived in Ukraine via Poland.
Once there, he made contact with Ukrainian forces that help train soldiers to operate drones along with other weapons before being assigned to a platoon.
Huynh served in the Marine Corps for four years, including on a base in Okinawa, Japan, for two years, but had never seen active combat before.
He left his home state of Alabama to fight in the Ukraine and has also not been heard from since June 8.
Before flying to the region, he told a local news outlet in his hometown of Hartselle, Alabama: “I have made my peace with the decision.
I know there is a possibility that he will die. ‘I am willing to get my life or what I think is right. Because what I have been taught is correct, really through my eyes, the Marine Corps, through God, and really what is correct,” he said.
The State Department, which has urged Americans not to travel to Ukraine
The State Department, which has urged Americans not to travel to Ukraine, has confirmed that they are aware of the two missing citizens.
“There are reports of another American whose whereabouts are unknown,” but he was unable to “discuss the details of that case.”
‘We have not yet raised this with the Russian Federation. If we believe that such disclosure through our embassy in Moscow or otherwise would be productive in terms of finding more information on the whereabouts of these individuals, we will not hesitate to do so,” spokesman Ned Price said.
On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the administration would do “everything possible” to get them “safely home,” but said their capture should serve as a reminder to Americans not to travel to the region.
‘If it’s true, we’ll do everything we can to get them back home safely. But this is an important time to remember that we discourage Americans from going to Ukraine and fighting. It is a war zone. it’s combat. If you’re passionate about supporting Ukraine, there are plenty of other safer ways to do it.
“Ukraine is not the place for Americans right now,” Kirby told a White House news conference.
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, are also assisting the family with their communications with the Department of State along with the US Embassy in Ukraine and the International Red Cross. .
Grady Kurpasi Quick and Facts
- The US Department of State says it is aware of reports that three American fighters are missing in Ukraine, with two of them feared captured
- The third missing American is U.S. Marine veteran Grady Kurpasi, reports CNN
- Kurpasi was living in Wilmington, North Carolina, before leaving for Ukraine
- U.S. servicemen Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, were reported missing earlier this week following the June 9 fight with Russian forces
- Huynh had travelled from Alabama to join a Ukrainian volunteer unit
