Bobby Pietrangelo, Eagle Scout, firefighter, and decorated volunteer soldier for Ukraine, has died at 23
“It’s like he knew it was his purpose to help Ukraine any way he could and possibly die for it,” a brother said. Another brother said: “He ran toward danger when others fled.”
Bobby Pietrangelo, 23, of Sellersville, Bucks County, honor student at Pennridge High School, Eagle Scout, volunteer firefighter, musician, and decorated volunteer soldier for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was killed in action Friday, Jan. 3, in Pokrovsk, Ukraine.
Born in Abington and reared in Willow Grove and Sellersville, Mr. Pietrangelo graduated from Pennridge in 2020. He was adept at shooting and archery, and earned Eagle Scout status with Troop 354 in Hatboro when he was 17. He also served with volunteer fire companies in Silverdale and Souderton.
He was naturally compassionate and patriotic, his family said in a tribute. He wanted to be a Marine after high school. But a kidney ailment disqualified him.
“He was crushed,” said his older brother McCord Fancher. “He was lost and without a plan.”
So he looked abroad for ways to serve. In April 2022, he joined an informal military group in war-torn Ukraine and then took on humanitarian missions. For 26 months, he transported supplies to the front lines of the war with Russia, taught lifesaving medical skills to others, and recovered the injured and dead from bombed-out areas.
In June 2024, as the war raged, he had to do more, said his mother, Dana Fancher. So he officially joined the Ukrainian armed forces. “He didn’t like the injustice he was seeing,” his mother said. “He was afraid but fearless and determined to go.”
McCord Fancher said: “It’s like he knew it was his purpose to help Ukraine any way he could and possibly die for it.” His eldest brother, Michael Pietrangelo, a longtime Marine, said: “He ran toward danger when others fled.”
In January, less than three months after being seriously injured in a previous battle, Mr. Pietrangelo was killed during combat. “He had been shot at, chased by drones, and drone bombed in his last few months,” McCord Fancher said. “Yet he was steadfast.”
Trudy Detwiler, his grandmother, said: “He reached his dream and gave his life. I am so very proud.” His mother said: “He had spirit and spunk all the way to the end.”
Recently, Mr. Pietrangelo’s service was recognized by firefighting colleagues, local Boy Scouts, veterans groups, and people in Ukraine. He joined the Silverdale and Perseverance Fire Companies a few years ago and worked with the Believe Family Foundation and other international aid groups in Ukraine.
As a soldier, he served several tours on the front lines and had a winter deployment extended. In October, he suffered a head injury and earned an Iron Cross medal for outstanding bravery.
His mother said: “Whether you agree or disagree with the cause, you have to respect a person who didn’t turn his back when things got tough.”
His sister, Morgan Fausett, said: “I am comforted that he died doing what he truly believed in.” Michael Pietrangelo said: “My little brother will forever be my hero.”
Robert Edward Pietrangelo was born Dec. 14, 2001. He spent his first 5½ weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at what is now Jefferson Abington Hospital with a serious abnormal fluid buildup. “Doctors called him a miracle baby,” his family said. “We have always believed that he truly was.”
He was on the stage crew for school plays at Pennridge, excelled in history and social studies, and attended college classes at Bucks County Community College while still in high school. He believed in prayer, sang in the youth choir at Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, and, often to his family’s delight and amazement, knew the words to nearly every song on the radio.
He played the trombone in school and local jazz bands and taught himself to play the trumpet. “Music was one of the many ways he expressed his vibrant soul,” his family said.
He liked trains, movies, video games, animals, and Christmas. He was goofy, they all said, and he made up silly nicknames for his mother. “He had an extraordinary gift for humor and lightness, always able to lift spirits and spark laughter, even in the darkest of times,” his family said.
Friends called him “a bright and courageous soul” and an “angel on earth” in tributes. One said: “The world could use a lot more Bobbys.”
He contacted his mother online almost daily from Ukraine, and she and her daughter, Morgan, traveled there in February to honor him, meet his friends, and collect his belongings. She has not recovered his body.
“Bobby Pietrangelo will be remembered always not only for how he died, but for how he lived,” his family said. “He touched countless lives with his kindness and left the world better than he found it.”
In addition to his mother, brothers, sister, and grandmother, Mr. Pietrangelo is survived by other relatives. His father, Robert P. Pietrangelo Jr., died earlier.
A memorial service and celebration of his life are to be at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 26, in Sellersville. Contact the family at [email protected] for the location and other details.
Donations in his name may be made to the R.T. Weatherman Foundation; the Believe Family Foundation, 10304 Button Willow Dr., Las Vegas, Nev. 89134; and SPCA International Ukraine, Box 8682, New York, N.Y. 10116.