On February 4, the White home reported on the posthumous award of the Medal of Honor (Medal of Honor – MoH) to United States Army Staff Sergeant Michael H. Ollis. The highest U.S. military honour is simply a confirmation of the act that saved the life of a Polish soldier in Afghanistan in 2013. It should be remembered that the Medal of Honor is the highest and most poorly awarded military award of the United States. He shall be granted only for acts which go beyond his work of service, and which put his own life straight at hazard with his opponent. Each broadcast precedes a multi-step, highly rigorous verification procedure, and the medal itself is presented on behalf of the American nation by the president of the United States. This award does not honor a "well-made mission" – it commemorates actions of an absolutely exceptional nature.
As a veteran of 3 operations outside the country, I know that the service does not end with you back home. Therefore, in my service, veterans – including injured veterans – have a peculiar place. They were the ones who incurred the real cost of decisions at state level and alliances. Their memory is not a symbolic gesture. It is simply a work that I fulfill all day at the Operations Command of the Types of Armed Forces.
History Sergeant Ollis I am peculiarly close for individual reasons. The then rescued Polish officer, Karol Suffering, I knew before. We served in 1 assault company – in the country and abroad. This makes that day in Ghazni not an abstract communicative of heroism, but a communicative of the people with whom I shared my service.
August 28, 2013, during suicide bomber attack on base in GhazniSergeant. Ollis, seeing a direct threat to the Polish officer, shielded him with his own body, taking on the force of the explosion. Thanks to this decision, Captain Charles Suffering survived and the sergeant survived. Ollis died instantly. It is an act of ultimate sacrifice – without calculation, without hesitation.
The Republic of Poland honored the sergeant posthumously. Ollisa Gold Medal of the Polish Army and the Star of Afghanistan. In the Operations Command of the Types of Armed Forces, in the Hall of Tradition, there is part of an exhibition dedicated to this soldier. This is not just an component of history. It is simply a permanent reminder that service ethos, allied solidarity and work for people are a real commitment.
Memory and respect for veterans must not be limited to anniversaries and ceremonies. They must mean real care, support and understanding – besides after the end of the service. The country that sends its soldiers on missions has a moral work to remember them always: the dead, the wounded and those who return, bearing the consequences of service throughout their lives.
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