A tortuous waiting game
Ethan Hertweck's U.S. military career was cut short because of a rare blood disorder. So when the opportunity to join the fight in Ukraine came up, his family said it was a divine calling for the 21-year-old Missouri native who would have put himself on the front lines of any international conflict he deemed unjust.
But within months of his arrival in the embattled country, Hertweck was killed in December by Russian forces while positioned in Avdiivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
A month later, their grief continues to be compounded by uncertainty.
Amid the harsh winter months, Hertweck's body is believed to be under rubble and ice in a Russian-occupied area that Ukrainian forces have deemed too dangerous to revisit. There have been some unsuccessful attempts to retrieve his remains, his family said. When the weather improves and the area is relatively cleared of Russians, they will try again.
If all else fails, Leslie Hertweck, his mother, said Ukraine may be forced to trade the remains of a fallen Russian to get Ethan back. It's been a torturous waiting game.