This Memorial Day is Private

This Memorial Day carries a weight I by no means anticipated to bear.

On April 20, 2025, Easter morning, I misplaced my father to conflict. He was on a mission in Ukraine, heading to a frontline place when a drone dropped a bomb. His final phrases, heard by his comrade, have been: “They shot me.” He was bleeding from his neck and abdomen.

RUSSIA killed my father.

His physique nonetheless hasn’t been introduced residence because it’s nonetheless on the battlefield. It has been mendacity there for 5 weeks now. Nobody desires to take accountability for retrieving it. The federal government, which must be financially supporting my mom and sisters after my father’s demise, is as a substitute sending us paperwork with errors, delays, and errors that really feel like intentional methods to keep away from offering the monetary help they owed by regulation.

My father wasn’t drafted. He was in Poland when the full-scale conflict broke out in 2022. However he selected to return to Ukraine, to the army, and to the battle. He did it not for politics, not for medals, not for orders. He advised me, “I’m going so that you simply don’t should.”

For almost three years, he served with braveness. He introduced my uncle into the army as properly. Ultimately, they have been despatched on a mission collectively. It grew to become deadly.

I attempted every thing to guard him. I filed paperwork, despatched physique armor, and even neck and groin safety. However the system failed him. The publish workplace Nova Publish Europe refused to provide the gear to the individual he had despatched to select it up. The forms ignored each plea. On the toughest day of his life, he went into battle unequipped. That second hit me deeply.

And but, he nonetheless went. Not for revenge. Not out of hate.

However out of affection. For his household. For his youngsters. For me.

Right this moment, as I keep in mind him, I grieve deeply. However I additionally carry satisfaction in my coronary heart. There is no such thing as a better love than to put down one’s life for an additional. My father lived and died by that fact.

To my dad, who gave every thing.

To my uncle, who miraculously survived, defeated two enemies, and is now recovering within the hospital.

To each soldier who fights not as a result of they need conflict, however as a result of they need peace, thanks!

This Memorial Day, might all of us keep in mind that freedom shouldn’t be free. Actual heroes are sometimes neglected by the programs they served, however by no means by the hearts they protected.

📫 Join my “HealthRun Insider” publication

📍Observe me on LinkedIn for future posts.

📱Observe me on X (@OlehPylyp) for additional ideas

🧵Observe me on Threads (Oleh Pylyp) for way of life

#HonorTheFallen #MemorialDay #USA #FreedomIsNotFree