PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The parents of a New Jersey-born man who died fighting as a volunteer in Ukraine are grappling with his loss.
“One day he said, ‘I’m going to be going to Ukraine," said Luke Lucyszyn's father George about the surprising news that he would fight independently to support Ukrainian forces against Russia. Luke was one of two Americans killed earlier this month fighting Russian aggressors.
Lucyszyn was born and raised in Cherry Hill. He attended school there through the ninth grade.
His parents Kathy and George now live in North Carolina. They say Lucyszyn would see stories of Ukrainian refugees streaming into Poland in need of supplies, so he wanted to help.
“He did it on his own. We didn’t know about it,” said George.
“We both tried to talk him out of it, but we got a call that he’s in Warsaw, working his way to the border into Ukraine.”
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Lucyszyn’s grandparents are from Ukraine, so it was not too much of a surprise to his parents that he wanted to go. They said Lucyszyn was always willing to help out those in need.
“Everybody would say, ‘Luke’s a great kid.’ No one would say anything bad about him. He got along with everybody,” George said.
“The friendships he would build,” Kathy added. “No one could bully his friends.”
With no military experience, Lucyszyn trained for a few short weeks in April to be a volunteer medic. He kept in touch with his family.
Lucyszyn told his parents that they were often outgunned and outmatched in this high-tech warfare, and that Ukraine would need equipment like thermal camera drones, thermal sights for guns, vests, and similar items.
On July 19, Kathy and George received the devastating news from someone at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
“4 a.m., we got a phone call from the State Department who told us he had passed,” said Kathy.
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Lucyszyn was part of an international brigade fighting with Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk region when they were ambushed.
“Three of his comrades came to his aid, and then a tank rolled in while they were trying to evacuate him and took out everyone,” said George through tears.
“Three people gave their lives trying to save my son.”
A fellow American, a Canadian and a Swedish man all perished in the attack.
Lucyszyn’s funeral was held in Warsaw this week before he was cremated. His parents hope they will receive the ashes.
Meanwhile they are still trying to process the loss of their son. They plan on creating a memorial to him.
Lucyszyn, 31, left behind two children, an 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.
“He’s a hero,” said Kathy. “The kid gave up an awful lot of his life and his time to go over there and help, and support people who really needed him.”