With his noble heart and warrior spirit Michael [Gloss] was forging his own hero’s journey when he was tragically killed in Eastern Europe,” his obit said.

U.S. citizen Michael Gloss, 21, died a year ago in Ukraine while a member of the Russian military and deployed in Ukraine.

A senior Central Intelligence Agency official’s son who had joined the Russian military was killed last year during an offensive in eastern Ukraine. The agency said it was a private tragedy and not a national security issue.