The Youngest and the Oldest Sons
How moms of fallen Marine vets in Ukraine keeps memories of them
During 8th Ukraine Action Summit over 700 advocates from all 50 states and Puerto Rico converged on the nation’s capital for a single purpose: to ensure that Ukraine remains a priority in U.S. Among advocates for Ukraine Jennifer Baglivi and Terri Hepworth, both are moms, who have lost their son in a fight for democracy, which is on Ukraine’s battlefield right now, and both connected with one aim: make the legacy of their sons continuing and memory keeps. I met those women in the nation’s capital and I wanted to tell you more about them.
Jennifer Baglivi lives in New Bern, North Carolina. She is an active duty Marines and a mental health therapist. Jennifer Baglivi is the mother of four children, Alex, Carolyn, Grace and Chris. Her oldest one – Alex was born when Jennifer was very young, “He was a fun little boy here. To be honest with you his personality really did change from how he was as a kid.” shared Alex’s mom Jennifer Baglivi.
Terri Hepworth is a Gold Star mother, together with her widower husband they have ten children and 57 grandchildren. Born in Utah, Terri grew up in a military family: her father was a World War II veteran, and her mother raised on a farm. Later, Terry married an Air Force serviceman and spent years moving between military bases across the United States and Europe: from Utah to Mississippi, Oklahoma and eventually Germany.
Dane Partridge Terri’s youngest son was born in 1988 during historic moments for World history: the years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the fall of the Berlin Wall. They lived at the base, which was part of NATO operations in Germany during a tense period of the Cold War. “We got to chop pieces off the Berlin Wall,” she recalls.
Terri’s youngest Dane grew up surrounded by military life. “That was his life, and he loved it,” Terry says. “And it never left him.”
Alex Banas knew he wanted to be a Marine since at eight years old. He joined Young Marines, a military based Boy Scout type camp in California. “He was the youngest young Marine. And I have a picture of him in that uniform at the little graduation they did. And I think that was the first time I saw him hold himself different. Like even at that age, so young, he was an accomplishment. It was something he was proud of and took pride in, and he took it so seriously.” Jennifer remembers that time.
After graduating high school, Dane joined the U.S. Marine. He served with the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq, driving Bradleys and MRAPs while escorting personnel around Baghdad. Terri says her son rarely spoke about what happened there. “I tried to ask him,” she says quietly. “He couldn’t talk about it.”
Way to Ukraine
Alex Banas was in the military for four years and got diagnosed with cancer, then his contract came to end. The Marines medically, honorably discharged him. That was the time right around the time the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine broke out. Alex decided in his mind in 2022 that he was going to go to Ukraine and according to Jennifer “nothing was going to stop from doing what he wanted to do and doing what he thought was the right thing to do. As soon as he beat the cancer and wanted to make sure physically he was okay after going through chemo for three years.”
Like many veterans, Dane struggled to adapt to civilian life. The years after Iraq were difficult. Dane was trying to find a job, a place, where to live, a woman to marry. “He struggled for quite a while,” Terri says, returning to the faith he had been raised with. “And then he figured some things out: he found that what he was raised to believe in God was the right way to live for him and for us and to have faith.”
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine, Terri remembers feeling that this war would change her family forever. “The words came to me: ‘This will affect you more than you know.'” Eventually, Terri learned he had been speaking privately with family members about traveling to Ukraine. “He felt like he needed to go,” she says.
Once Dane made the decision, everything changed. “Right away, he had a purpose,” Terri remembers telling him through tears. “If you go, you won’t come back,”
A warrior with the callsign Shepherd used to fight with Alex Banas would say he was a great warrior. “He was very motivated from day one on just to keep on fighting. You can always say it’s a foreign country, but it’s just the principles of right and wrong are always there. It doesn’t matter what country the people are from. And I’m pretty sure that is what he was thinking as well. He was just there to do his work.”
For weeks, Dane struggled with the decision. Then, in April 2022, he boarded a plane for Ukraine. Terri says she already knew when she hugged him goodbye at the airport in Salt Lake City that it would be the last time she would ever see her son alive. “When I watched him walk on that tarmac toward the plane, it was like he grew in stature,” she says. “It was like he was going to do what he was meant to do.”
Dane Partridge fought in Ukraine for six months. On October 3, 2022, he was mortally wounded during a mission in the Zaporizhzhia region. Dane was evacuated under fire to a hospital in Zaporizhzhia. Despite catastrophic injuries, doctors fought for days to save his life for eight days. “They tried so hard to save him. But his neck was broken. Shrapnel had shredded his brain. There was no way that he was going to live.”
On October 11, 2022, after a final call with his family, Dane Partridge died. Terri said her last words to her son: “I’d tell him, ‘I love you, Dane. I love you,’ hoping he could hear me.” He was 34 years old. Terri says one of her son’s brothers in arms later described him simply: “He was a good Christian soldier.”
Two weeks before her son’s death, Jennifer had a chance to see her son, who managed to surprise her for Mothers Day. “I am extremely grateful for that. I was able to hug my son and tell my son to his face that I loved him two weeks before he died, and that’s a gift, that’s a gift, that’s a gift.”
Alex Banas Baglivi did a few successful missions and on May 29th, in 2025, on a mission with four other guys. He fell in Kupiansk with two other guys on the team. It was five total and three of them fell. “He was born on warrior soil, and he died on warrior soil. So, kind of a neat progression in his life.” said Jennifer. A day when Jennifer got a call was the day he never forgets “I can see myself falling on the grass and sitting there. And that was hard. That was, that was, that was hard. That was hard. I’ll never forget that day.”
Celebration of life
A celebration of Alexander Banas’ life took place in New Bern, North Carolina November 8th, 2025. Shepherd attended Alex’s celebration of life in the U.S. There is a memorial peaceful spot for Alex, and Jennifer goes there multiple times a week, showing her own way to take care of him.
The church in the U.S. did a service for Dane there, and his unit did in Ukraine. Terri saw it over Zoom. “They put him in a Ukrainian military uniform and made a beautiful service.” Then he was shipped back to the U.S. where his family did a service for him here. Dane ‘Bird’ Partridge was buried in Blackfoot, Idaho, not far away from Terri, so she can visit him.
Advocacy for Ukraine
Terri Hepworth continues advocating for Ukraine alongside other American families who lost loved ones in Russia’s war against Ukraine. She says supporting Ukraine is now part of honoring her son’s memory. “If I get angry at Ukraine, I dishonor his life and what he did,” she says. “I’m proud of what he did.”
Her late son believed the war was larger than politics. “This is good versus evil. We’re on the side of good and Ukraine deserves the support. And I, I’m right there.” Terri says to me. Jennifer Baglivi alongside Terri, so they can continue their son’s legacy and the fight of their sons from the other perspective. “I truly believe this is my way of honoring my son, honoring what he was doing. He fought with his skills, he fought in the way that he was good at. And I feel like a really strong way to honor him and his efforts, and to hopefully make him proud of,” Jennifer said to me.
Uliana Boichuk is a storyteller and journalist.