Medal of Honor for Fallen Hero

In a private White House ceremony on June 2, the 4th Medal of Honor of the Iraq War will be posthumously awarded to Spc. Ross A. McGinnis. McGinnis is the third of four heroes profiled by combat journalist Jeff Emanuel in his The Lost Heroes of the War on Terror to receive the nation's highest honor.

On December 4th, 2006, McGinnis was on patrol with a convoy, manning the .50-caliber machine gun on his HMMWV. During a surprise attack on a narrow side street, a fragmentation grenade was thrown into the vehicle. According to the official report, McGinnis yelled "Grenade" over the intercom and tried to deflect it, but it made it inside the vehicle.

Spc. McGinnis found himself in a hero's moment. Seated in the turret atop the vehicle, he could have jumped free before the blast. Instead, he pressed his back over the grenade to shield his fellow soldiers. When the grenade detonated, his body absorbed the lethal blast, saving the lives of every other man in the vehicle.

Get the new
PD toolbar!

Sergeant First Class Cedric Thomas was in the HMMWV that day. "We didn't have a chance to get out," he said. "The doors were too heavy and some were combat locked. We couldn't get out." McGinnis' warning came through the intercom, followed by the sound of his breathing into the open mic. Thomas recounted seeing McGinnis stand up, sit down, and then lean back into position over the grenade.

Ross McGinnis' parents released a statement in December of 2006 about their son's sacrifice. In it they recount the horror of the notification, and their feelings as the weeks were passing by. "Ross did not become OUR hero by dying to save his fellow soldiers from a grenade," they said. "He was a hero to us long before he died, because he was willing to risk his life to protect the ideals of freedom and justice that America represents."

Tomorrow as we observe Memorial Day, take a moment to remember Ross McGinnis. An American man, a former Boy Scout, and a member of his High School concert choir. A member of a church, a Little League Baseball player, a son, and a brother. A soldier, a warrior ... a hero.

Ross McGinnis had a choice one December day 10,000 miles from home. Ross McGinnis didn't take the easy option. He chose to face his own death and in so doing, saved his fellow warriors.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

More:
Interview with attack survivor Staff Sgt Ian Newland.
Memorial Video from Christina Wendel, the "Love of His Life"

Follow PoliticsDaily On Facebook and Twitter,
and download the new Politics Daily toolbar!