NEW YORK >> The remains of a U.S. Marine veteran who had been missing in Ukraine for more than a year will be returned to his family in eastern North Carolina later today, according to the group bringing the remains back to the U.S.

A Turkish Airlines plane flying from Istanbul with the remains of retired Marine Capt. Grady Kurpasi is scheduled to land at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on this evening. After a short ceremony, a private jet will fly the remains to his family in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Kurpasi, a 50-year-old Iraq War veteran, volunteered in February 2022 to help evacuate Ukrainian residents and later fought in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, according to the Weatherman Foundation, the group that located his remains and is bringing them back to the U.S.

He was last seen in April 2022 after investigating the source of gunfire with fellow volunteers in southern Ukraine and was declared dead last month by the U.S. State Department.

“There is an unspoken bond between those who serve in uniform,” said Weatherman Foundation President Meghan Mobbs, who led the effort to retrieve Kurpasi’s remains. “If you give your life in combat, your fellow Americans will bear any burden to bring you home.”