Loved ones are devastated as they remember a former Marine from Orange County who was killed in a missile strike in Ukraine.
Ian “Frank” Tortorici, 32, was a Marine Corp. veteran, a former law enforcement officer and a paramedic who was killed in Ukraine.
“He really loved that country,” said Jon Frank, Tortorici’s father. “He would backpack and he was looking to one day retire and open a farm. He has so much kindness in his body that he would always do the right thing but never looked for any type of recognition. Always positive, always happy, always fun.”
Fifteen months ago, Tortorici left his Lake Forest job with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement and enlisted in the Ukrainian International Legion.
The legion was a group of foreign soldiers contracted members of the Ukrainian military. Tortorici fought on the frontlines against invading Russian troops and provided medical care to both soldiers and civilians.
“He was doing the most dangerous work that anybody was doing over there,” said Frank. “I didn’t want him to go. I begged him to come home.”
But Tortorici insisted he would not return home until the war was over, his family said. In his last phone call, he told his father he was taking a few days off in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.
But on June 27, Russian missiles struck the city center where Tortorici was dining at a local pizzeria. He was killed alongside more than a dozen other civilians including children.
“I wish he was never there,” Frank said. “I understand why they’re fighting. It’s their country. Their country’s been invaded. Their people are getting slaughtered and he’s there because he wanted to be there.”
The Laguna Hills High School graduate visited Ukraine numerous times after serving in the Marines. He made friends and fell in love with a Ukrainian woman whom he had planned to marry once the war ended.
“He is somebody that I look up to now,” said Frank. “He’s my hero.”
In addition to his father, Tortorici is survived by his mother, two brothers and two sisters.
His family is planning to hold a funeral at Riverside National Cemetery.