SANTA CLARA, Utah — A Utah man who volunteered to fight for Ukraine's defense has died in combat, his family confirmed this week.
Trevor Crane, 38, was found dead in Kharkiv, Ukraine on January 31 with head injuries sustained while fighting for the International Legion for Defense of Ukraine, according to his mother, Santa Clara City Council member Janene Burton.
Burton received the devastating news Wednesday morning from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine after initially ignoring multiple phone calls from Washington, D.C.
"I kept ignoring the phone calls from Washington, DC. I just said, why do you guys keep bothering me this early in the morning?" Burton said. "She just got quiet and said, is this Janine Borley Burton? So she said my whole name. Yes. And then she said, well, this is the US embassy in Ukraine. And I just went because I just knew that there was something bad she was going to tell me."
The embassy told Burton they weren't certain how Crane died, only that he sustained head injuries during combat operations.
"It was a head injury of some sort. He could have been running from a drone, who knows, and could have hit his head on a rock," Burton said.
This wasn't Crane's first injury while serving in Ukraine. He had previously been hospitalized after sustaining shrapnel wounds to both hands from a drone attack and suffered a concussion from a head injury during another incident.
"The thing is, he had already been injured over there. He was injured and had both hands full of shrapnel from a drone. And when he ran from that drone, had a head injury, it was a concussion, but he got over that and he had to get healed in the hospital over there. And he went back," Burton said.
In a statement to FOX 13, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine confirmed an American died in Kharkiv but did not confirm the person's name, saying only: "We can confirm the death of a U.S. citizen in Kharkiv and are providing consular assistance to the family."
Despite friends urging against it and a U.S. travel advisory, Burton visited her son in Ukraine in September. She witnessed firsthand the gratitude Ukrainian civilians showed toward her son.
"People would run up to Trevor and hold his hands if they saw him in his camouflage and they would, in broken English, they would say, oh, thank you for fighting for us," Burton said. "He felt a purpose over there. He felt compassionate for the people. He really felt driven to go defend."
During that visit, Burton said her son proudly introduced her to fellow fighters.
"And he pointed to me and said, that's my mom. She just got here. He took all the way from America to see me, and it made me so proud that I was there to be with him," Burton said.
Crane, who grew up in South Jordan, was clear about his motivations for serving in Ukraine. He rejected being called a mercenary, telling his mother he was a true volunteer.
"I am not a mercenary mom I signed up with this army and if I was a mercenary I'd make more than $500 a month and I have living expenses paid for, but that's about it. And so he was a true volunteer," Burton recalled him saying.
Before joining Ukraine's defense forces, Crane worked as a deputy sheriff in Salt Lake County and was an avid adventurer who traveled extensively, including hiking to Mount Everest base camp.
Even as a student, Crane demonstrated exceptional knowledge of military history. As a ninth grader, he gave lectures to his mother's eighth-grade history classes about World War II raids.
"So he came and spoke to my eighth-grade class every hour all day and had my students captivated all the whole 50 minutes of class and I had kids raising their hands and going How do you know all this stuff? And how do you know all these answers? I'm sitting back there as the teacher just dumbfounded," Burton said.
Michael Zalypko, who emigrated from Ukraine to St. George in 2019 during the initial stages of the Russian invasion, expressed gratitude for Crane's sacrifice.
"Really sad for him but proud to hear it was his calling to protect my people. I'm really honored to hear whatever he was doing his family. I'm really grateful for all his sacrifice and what he did for Ukraine. That's a really big thing for all of us," Zalypko said.
Zalypko's family remains in western Ukraine, where they face ongoing threats as Russian forces target energy infrastructure.
"The problem they have right now, Russia is targeting a lot of energy infrastructure. They live not that far from a big electricity station," Zalypko said.
Burton said West Jordan's mayor will honor Crane next Tuesday with a plaque to be installed at the Veterans Memorial.
Despite her grief, Burton said she understands why her son felt compelled to serve in Ukraine.
"I realized why he loved it over there so much. And what he was fighting for. And what he was fighting for, and for him, to die a hero and, I guess, all I can say is, you know, he would probably want to go out that way," Burton said.
