Dane Partridge, a U.S. veteran and former infantryman from Idaho, died this week in Ukraine after suffering injuries from a Russian attack earlier this month, his family told The Post late Wednesday. He was 34.
Partridge wrote a will before buying a one-way ticket to Poland, where he signed up to fight in the legion in April. His sister, Jenny Corry of Idaho Falls, said he felt a spiritual calling to join.
Born in Germany in 1988 to a Red Cross aid worker and a member of the U.S. Air Force, Partridge became captivated by the idea of serving in the military from a young age. “All he knew growing up were flak jackets, M-16s, guard dogs and seeing NATO exercises,” said his mother, Terri Hepworth. “That was his world, and it never left him.”When he was 3, the family moved to Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and he grew up “in the dirt with his friends, playing Army guy,” Corry said.
Partridge separated from the military in 2012 with the rank of private first class, according to his father, Dennis Partridge.“I had never seen him happier than in Ukraine. He found his purpose not in the fighting so much as the saving,” his mother said, in between sobs. “Sometimes, with the civilian world, he just didn’t mesh.”
“He did what few of us are willing to do — he just packed up and went,” his father said. “He was always willing to help. He was a hard worker, and he certainly cared about his family.”
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