What We Know About Willy Joseph Cancel, the Former US Marine Killed in Ukraine

A 22-year-old former U.S. Marine has become the first American citizen to be killed fighting in the war in Ukraine, leaving behind a young widow and a 7-month-old son.

Willy Joseph Cancel, who’d been working as a corrections officer in Tennessee, traveled to Ukraine last month with a private security firm, according to CNN, which was the first to report his death.

Cancel had signed up with the private military contractor shortly before the war broke out and volunteered when he heard the company was looking for people to travel to Ukraine. The name of the company was not reported, but Cancel was being paid for his work.

“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,” Cancel’s mother, Rachel Cabrera, told CNN.