“He had a very strong faith that he was meant to be in Ukraine and to help,” says Pastor of the Church of Christ Dorothy Shelley. Together with Ukrainian clergy of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches, she held a prayer service honoring volunteer Robert Pietrangelo, who was killed defending Ukraine this January. In a small Pennsylvania town, on their own farm, the family also held a Celebration of Life, which brought the Ukrainian and American communities together side by side. At least 300 people came to pay tribute to Bobby, who went to another corner of the world to fight for what he believed was right.
Robert Pietrangelo was born on December 14, 2001. Doctors called him a miracle baby, because he was born with a rare and usually fatal diagnosis—hydrops fetalis. He spent the first week and a half of his life in a neonatal unit and survived, which was a miracle to the doctors, and his family always believed that is exactly what it was.
“When his doctor realized that Bobby was going to pull through that terrible condition, the doctor came to him dressed as Santa Claus. And from then on, Bobby adored Christmas—and also because he was born on December 14, just a few days before Christmas, which also shaped his love for the holiday,” says Nikki Pietrangelo, the wife of Bobby’s eldest brother.
“His mother, Dayna Fancher, prayed that he would grow up healthy and strong, to bring laughter, to bring the joy and the chaos that only a truly beloved child can create. Bobby really became that—and even more. He had an extraordinary gift—the ease and warmth with which he lifted spirits and made people laugh even in the hardest moments. Bobby loved music very much. He studied at Upper Moreland schools, and in 2020 he graduated from Pennridge High School,” Pastor Dorothy Shelley of the Church of Christ says in her address.
“He’s the funniest, most playful, joke-cracking train lover you could imagine,” adds Nikki, the wife of Bobby’s older brother, showing a photo of Bobby at a train’s controls. “He even found trains in Ukraine,” Nikki says with a smile.
From generation to generation, Bobby’s family passed down a love of history, freedom, and civic responsibility. His paternal great-grandmother took her grandchildren to historical sites in Philadelphia, and his grandfather taught history at school. It was the great-grandmother and the grandfather who did the research and discovered that one of their ancestors took part in the American Revolutionary War. The family therefore joined the patriotic organization Sons of the American Revolution.
Bobby was a Scout in the United States. He earned the highest rank, Eagle Scout, awarded for leadership, responsibility, and service to the community.
Christina Lynch’s son started Scouting together with Bobby. The boys began as Cub Scouts and made it all the way to becoming Eagles together. She remembers Bobby as a true friend to her son. “Bobby was cheerful and full of joy. He had a wonderful personality. He could make friends with anyone. He was truly a good-natured kid. There was a light inside him that spoke to everyone. Bobby was wonderful. He took Jimmy under his wing, and they were such good friends. And it’s one of the few truly good friendships Jimmy has.”
After the start of the full-scale invasion, Robert Pietrangelo traveled to Ukraine for the first time. At first he volunteered, helping civilians. “He couldn’t do otherwise. He did what was right. He couldn’t stand aside and kept telling me that if invaders came to our town, we too would have to protect all the women and children,” says Dayna, Bobby’s mother. In April 2024, Robert Pietrangelo joined the ranks of the Ukrainian army for training. “Bobby was born when I was 17, and I changed his diapers. He always wanted to be a serviceman, to enlist, because he had my example and my wife’s example—we are both U.S. infantry,” says Michael Pietrangelo, Bobby’s eldest brother.
In October 2025 he received a contract and a military ID. “From childhood, Bobby dreamed of serving in the army. But here, in the U.S., he wasn’t accepted. And then he decided to go to Ukraine. It was his decision, his dream. Of course I worried… But he lived the way he wanted. He loved life, family, people. He volunteered, was in the ‘Order of Eagles’ (Eagle Scout), always helped others and did everything right. He was someone to look up to,” recalls his uncle, John Detwiler.
“People like Bobby, who came to our country from thousands of miles away, left everything—their family here, their friends, a peaceful life—and came to our country and helped our people. He helped rescue wounded civilians. After that he helped our military supply certain vital things. And finally he joined our military and fought like our fighters. He is a true hero,” says Captain Volodymyr Denysov, naval attaché and representative of the Embassy of Ukraine, addressing those gathered for the commemoration.
In October 2024, Bobby was wounded by a mortar round dropped by a drone onto his bunker. He received the Iron Cross award for bravery after being hospitalized with a head injury, and he refused to return home—he wanted to go back to the front to fight and be alongside his brothers-in-arms.
“He fought for a cause bigger than himself. That’s a testament to the character with which he was raised, the community that raised him, the family that raised him. He was willing to pay the ultimate price and make the ultimate sacrifice so that people he didn’t know, and who didn’t know him, could deserve a better life,” says Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, addressing the community. The congressman added that the name of Robert Edward Pietrangelo has been entered into the Congressional Record, which is then transmitted to the National Archives, making him forever part of American history, eternally inscribed in history for the sacrifice he made for people he did not even know, but whom he loved very much.
“Bobby had a very strong faith that he had to help people,” says the pastor of the church attended by Bobby’s mother, Dayna. Among the items the family brought back from Ukraine is Bobby’s personal Bible. The pastor read from it during the service and placed it in a chest among Bobby’s things.
Representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Borys Gudziak also joined the joint prayer service.
“I want to express words of gratitude to you on behalf of the people of Ukraine. On behalf of a nation that offers the sacrifice we see here today, personally—the sacrifice of love, of death, in order to live. When I saw Bobby and read about him, the impression I had was of an angelic person, a gentle person, a tender person, a person who, as was written, was sometimes funny, and yet within him there was a firmness of principle, firm as stone. We thank the Lord for his life. Here we promise to remember Bobby, to remember him forever,” Metropolitan Gudziak tells those present.
“We joked so much; he always had a few jokes that could make me laugh every time. When he was in Ukraine, we talked a lot by video, and he kept showing me his brothers-in-arms, joking and laughing a lot—he filled the whole space. That’s who my Bobby was,” Dayna tells me, showing the funny selfies they took when Bobby came home from Ukraine.
In December 2024, the family was expecting Bobby home for Christmas, which was his favorite holiday; however, his leave was moved to January 6, 2025. On January 2, 2025, his mother spoke with Bobby—he told her about the mission he was about to go on; he was a bit anxious, the mother recalls. “He knew how dangerous his last mission in Pokrovsk had been, and he insisted he would not leave his brothers-in-arms, that it was his duty to go and be with them,” says Dayna Fencher, Bobby’s mother. Dayna says that at the time she somehow felt it was their last conversation.
Robert Edward Pietrangelo was killed on January 3, 2025, in battle near Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, defending our and your Ukraine. His body was left on the battlefield. It is currently territory occupied by the Russians.
“Bobby still had his whole life ahead of him: he was meant to love, to joke, to have fun, and simply to live. There was still so much that was supposed to be for him, supposed to be…,” says Bobby’s uncle.
On July 26, 2025, Bobby’s family decided to hold a commemoration for their son. More than 300 people honored the memory of Robert Pietrangelo in the small Pennsylvania town where his mother lives. On the family’s farm in Pennsylvania, all close friends, relatives, and neighbors gathered, remembering Bobby and offering condolences to the family. In the crowd, people spoke among themselves about how much Bobby loved life, how much he joked, and how cheerful he was. Everyone who came here to honor his memory and support the family at this moment—when they were saying farewell to their son who died defending Ukraine—spoke about it.
As the commemoration ended and people were getting ready to go home, Dayna’s daughter-in-law, saying goodbye, told her: “All the mothers who are here today said that no one can even imagine how much pain you are going through, Dayna.”
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