thedrifter
12-13-06, 07:40 AM
December 13, 2006
Soldier who dove on grenade nominated for MoH
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer
pc. Ross A. McGinnis has been nominated by his commanders for the Medal of Honor, said Maj. Sean Ryan, a spokesman for 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
On Dec. 4, while on duty in Baghdad, Iraq, McGinnis used his body to smother a grenade, saving the lives of four fellow soldiers. McGinnis died from the blast.
McGinnis, 19, was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, which is attached to 2nd BCT.
Only one soldier and one Marine have received the Medal of Honor since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and there has been debate about why there have been so few recipients of the nation’s highest award for valor.
According to information provided Tuesday by Multi-National Division-Baghdad, McGinnis was manning the gunner’s hatch when an insurgent tossed a grenade from above. The grenade flew past McGinnis and down through the hatch before lodging near the radio.
His platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Cedric Thomas, was in the vehicle at the time.
McGinnis “yelled, ‘Grenade. … It’s in the truck,’” Thomas said. “I looked out of the corner of my eye as I was crouching down and I saw him pin it down.”
McGinnis, who was from Knox, Pa, could have escaped the blast, Thomas said.
“He had time to jump out of the truck,” he said. “He chose not to. He gave his life to save his crew and his platoon sergeant. He’s a hero.”
Three of the soldiers in the vehicle with McGinnis have returned to duty after suffering minor injuries. The fourth is recovering in Germany.
McGinnis, the youngest soldier in his company, was approved Monday for a Silver Star, the nation’s third highest award for valor, according to a press release from MND-B. In it, he was referred to as a private first class. McGinnis was promoted to E-4 the morning he died.
Ellie
thedrifter
12-13-06, 08:15 AM
Silver Star
New York Sun Editorial
December 13, 2006
One of the remarkable things about the war in Iraq is that while American misconduct, such as that at Abu Ghraib, and even alleged American misconduct, such as that at Haditha, have received tremendous amounts of press attention, American heroism has been given short shrift. But the dispatch from the Defense Department, datelined "Forward Operating Base Loyalty, Iraq" — about a 19-year-old Army private from Knox, Pa., named Ross McGinnis, who liked poker and loud music and who saved the lives of four of his fellow soldiers by falling on a grenade in Baghdad on December 4 — speaks to the remarkable bravery of American soldiers.
The dispatch quoted his platoon sergeant, Cedric Thomas, saying, "He gave his life to save his crew and his platoon sergeant. He's a hero." The dispatch says that McGinnis's action demonstrates that the "MySpace generation" — often criticized as self-absorbed — "has what it takes to carry on the Army's proud traditions." The Silver Star will be awarded posthumously. We happened to read about Private McGinnis's heroism after watching an interview that Sean Hannity conducted with American soldiers in Mosul in which one of the soldiers said that when they hear American politicians say America can't win this war, what they perceive those politicians to be saying is that they lack confidence in our own GIs. What a rebuke to defeatism is the heroism of the American GI.
Ellie
thedrifter
12-13-06, 08:38 AM
"Blue Spader" Down - Godspeed Ross McGinnis
Posted By Blackfive
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has this on McGinnis:
...[McGinnis' mother] said her son drew a soldier in kindergarten when he was supposed to picture what he wanted to be when he grew up.
"Ross decided at a very young age that he wanted to join the Army," she said.
On his 17th birthday -- the first day he was eligible -- Ross McGinnis stepped into the recruiting station and joined the Army through the Delayed Enlistment Program, she said.
<...>
...Ross McGinnis was bright but restless and wasn't a stellar student.
"He wasn't academic," his mother said. "He was hands on."
Tom McGinnis said his son's passions - other than the Army - were video games and mountain biking. He later became a car enthusiast while taking automotive technology at the Clarion County Career Center.
"He was always outside, going. He couldn't sit still," Tom McGinnis said.
Ross McGinnis graduated from Keystone Junior-Senior High School in 2005...
Ross was 6 feet tall, 136 pounds, and a lefty, and he was a good shot with either hand:
...During his infantry training, the left-handed McGinnis qualified as an expert shooting left-handed and as a sharpshooter -- one step below expert -- shooting right-handed, she said...
McGinnis arrived in Iraq in early August and his unit was sent to Eastern Baghdad to help quell the brewing sectarian war. His unit, from Schweinfurt, Germany, was Charlie Company (the ROCK!), 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, and they had seen some tough fighting lately.
Mostly, due to the sentencing of Saddam, no one really seemed to notice that Charlie had taken out 50 insurgents during a violent period following the verdict. McGinnis, as a machine gunner, had been awarded a Silver Star for his actions in that fight. He was granted a waiver for time in service to be promoted to Specialist, too.
CENTCOM sent an email that describes McGinnis on patrol, on December 4th, standing in the turret. McGinnis was manning his armored humvee's machine gun. His Platoon Sergeant, SFC Thomas, was the vehicle commander.
From a position above the humvee, an insurgent lobbed a grenade that arced through McGinnis' hatch and fell to the humvee console lodging in the radio at McGinnis' feet.
McGinnis shouted, "GRENADE! IT'S IN THE TRUCK!"
Nineteen year old Private First Class Ross McGinnis had a choice to make - get the hell out of the truck through the hatch or...
SFC Cedric Thomas:
"I looked out of the corner of my eye as I was crouching down and I saw him pin it down."
McGinnis did so even though he could have escaped.
"He had time to jump out of the truck," Thomas said. "He chose not to."
Thomas remembered McGinnis talking about how he would respond in such a situation. McGinnis said then he didn't know how he would act, but when the time came, he delivered.
"He gave his life to save his crew and his platoon sergeant," Thomas said. "He's a hero. He's a professional. He was just an awesome guy."
Three of the Soldiers with McGinnis who were wounded that day have returned to duty, while a fourth is recovering in Germany.
For saving the lives of his friends and giving up his own in the process, McGinnis earned the Silver Star, posthumously. His unit paid their final respects in a somber ceremony here Dec. 11...
Ross leaves behind his brothers in Charlie Company, his parents Thomas and Romayne McGinnis, his sisters Rebecca and Katie, and his friend in Germany, Christina Wendel.
His chain of command is considering nominating him for the Medal of Honor.
Ross will be buried in Arlington. His parents have an interesting way for you to honor Ross's memory:
A military memorial service is being planned at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Knox (PA) with full military honors.
His remains will then be transferred to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
His family has suggested for anybody who wishes to make a memorial donation to send something to a service member overseas, a veteran or local service member and present it as a gift from PFC Ross McGinnis.
Gifts to his unit may be sent to:
SFC Cedric Thomas
1st Platoon, C/1-26 IN
Task Force Blue Spader
APO AE 09390-1537
Yesterday, SSG Wayne Marlow interviewed McGinnis's friends in Iraq. What they have to say is after the Jump...
Pfc. Brennan Beck, a 1-26 infantryman from Lodi, Calif., said McGinnis made others feel better.
“He would go into a room and when he left, everyone was laughing,” Beck said. “He did impersonations of others in the company. He was quick-witted, just hilarious. He loved making people laugh. He was a comedian through and through.”
While having a witty side, McGinnis took his job seriously.
“He was not a garrison Soldier. He hated it back in garrison,” Beck said. “He loved it here in Iraq. He loved being a gunner. It was a thrill, he loved everything about it. He was one our best Soldiers. He did a great job.”
Beck has memories of talking all night with McGinnis about where they wanted their lives to go, and said McGinnis always remembered his friends.
“When I had my appendix removed, he was the only one who visited me in the hospital,” Beck said. “That meant a lot.”
Another 1-26 infantryman, Pfc.Michael Blair of Klamath Falls, Ore., recalled that McGinnis helped him when he arrived at Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt, Germany.
“When I first came to the unit…he was there and took me in and showed me around,” Blair said. “He was real easy to talk to. You could tell him anything. He was a funny guy. He was always making somebody laugh.”
McGinnis’ final heroic act came as no surprise to Blair.
“He was that kind of person,” Blair said. “He would rather take it himself than have his buddies go down.”
Thank you and Godspeed, Ross McGinnis.
Ellie