Ukraine Joshua Jones - Misty Gossett said Wednesday that she remembers the exact time her son Joshua Jones died in Ukraine: It was 3:50 p.m. August 23rd.
In the 22 days that followed, she said, she wanted only her son's remains returned to the United States. Gossett is the first member of her family to speak out about her son's death and the emotional toll of waiting for his body.
Ukraine Joshua Jones
"Closure would be a step," she said from her home in Memphis, Tennessee. "There was a Ukrainian memorial to his comrades that was moving, but ... the United States is my son's home."
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Jones traveled to Ukraine on March 30, more than a month after Russia invaded the country. The day before his 24th birthday, he told his mother he was leaving for Ukraine, saying: "I don't want to hurt you, but I want to go."
Gossett said her family had no ties to Ukraine, but her son was a born soldier. He served three years in the US Army and decided to join the fight with a group of friends he made in the military.
"I think he developed this passion to help people who needed help," she said. "In our family, we are not personally connected to Ukraine. Our son wanted to go somewhere to help people."
Many non-Ukrainians traveled to the country hoping to help the defenders fight the Russian invasion. Ukraine's armed forces have also established a special foreign force to deal with the influx of ex-soldiers from around the world who have joined the fighting.
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Jones is not the only American fighter to die in Ukraine. The State Department already confirmed the deaths of Brian Young and Luke Lucizin in July.
Two other American veterans, Alexander John-Robert Drewke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, were captured by Russian forces. Grady Kurpasi, a Marine veteran, has been missing since June.
"I know we're not the only family trying to reach the same resolution," Gossett said. "That's all we want. We don't have a dog in this fight except to get our baby home."
Correction (September 15, 2022, 1 p.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misstated the time Misty Gossett was notified of her son's death. It was 3:50 PM, not 3:15 PM.
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