Sergeant Staff. Michael Ollis, who in 2013 in Afghanistan covered his own body of a Polish officer, will be posthumously honored with the Medal of Honor – the highest American military honour. The decision to award the medal was approved on behalf of legislature by U.S. president Donald Trump, finalising the long-standing efforts of the household and the veteran community.
Thus, Ollie's action, previously recognized as an exceptional act of courage, was formally ranked among the highest category of heroism in the American armed forces.
So far, a soldier of the 10th Mountain Division has been posthumously decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, the second in the U.S. Combat Awards hierarchy. For years, however, the veterans' community and the fallen household have indicated that the circumstances of his death, consciously covering an allied officer's body at the minute of immediate danger, meet the criteria according to which the Medal of Honor is awarded.
Immediate decision
On 28 August 2013, the Taliban carried out an attack on the Ghazni base, where soldiers of coalition forces, including Americans and Poles, were serving. The attackers utilized explosives to breach the base's security. 1 detonation occurred in the immediate vicinity of safety soldiers, leading to casualties and immediate threat to the troops located there.
Among them were Sergeant Staff. Michael Ollis and Polish officer, Lt. Karol Suffering. erstwhile the detonation occurred, Ollis was closest to the Polish soldier. At the time of the explosion, he shielded him with his own body, taking on the main force of the detonation and shrapnel. He died instantly. The victim suffered injuries, but survived.
According to later findings and accounts of witnesses, Ollis acted rapidly, without commands and without the anticipation of retreat. It was instinctive, but full aware of the soldier's reaction, which, in an emergency situation, considered protecting an ally a priority. This short series of events became the key argument in the procedure leading to the award of the Medal of Honor.
‘(...) This communicative is simply a symbol of an inseparable bond that connects Poland and the United States. Our nations service side by side, defending common values, freedom and democracy. Sergeant Ollis' heroism reminds us that the alliance is not just words, but, above all, a willingness to make the highest sacrifices. Hi to His memory!" – Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on social media today.
Highest ethos standard
Michael Ollis was a professional soldier, a Petty Officer with combat experience. He joined the army as a very young man, choosing a formation of light infantry, which meant intensive training and a advanced rate of service. Afghanistan was not his first abroad mission, and it was not there that he first encountered a real threat. He previously participated in combat activities in Iraq. The superiors pointed out that Ollis found himself well in specified conditions as a "stable point of the team".
In individual papers and in the memories of colleagues from the unit, the image of the Petty Officer, who understood his function not only as an executing officer of orders, but besides as a individual liable for the safety of others, is scrolled. He did not search confrontation and chance to prove himself, but in stress situations he was able to stay calm and orderly. specified features – consistency, mastery, predictability – were crucial in the units performing protective and protective tasks.
This context allows a better knowing of events in Ghazni. The decision he made in a fraction of a second was not a deviation from his erstwhile attitude or a one-off snap. She entered in the way she had previously presented the service – based on work for another soldiers, regardless of nationality or degree. Therefore, shortly after his death, there was a clear conclusion in his service evaluations and reports that Ollie's behaviour was in line with the highest standards of soldier ethos.
Robert Ollis, father of Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis, and Kimberly Loschiavo, sister of Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis, receive the posthumously awarded Cross for Outstanding Service at the hands of General James C. McConville in 2019.
Durable consequences
For Lieutenant Charles, the Suffering Events of Ghazni did not end with the evacuation from Afghanistan. The Pole survived the attack, but from the first moments he knew that he owed the life of an American enlisted officer. This cognition became a mention point for his continued life—personal and professional—and over time merged 2 families on both sides of the Atlantic.
The contact between the sufferer and Michael Ollis' household was made comparatively quickly. Meetings, talks, and celebrations were not an authoritative diplomatic gesture, but they were due to the request to give meaning to the tragedy, which meant the failure of a boy for some, and for others to save life. In time, this relation became a lasting bond. 1 of the most individual gestures was the decision made present by Captain Charles the Suffering to have his boy bear the name Michael. The Polish officer repeatedly emphasized in talks with the media that he did not see his salvation in terms of “miracles” but the consequences of a peculiar act of a peculiar man. In his accounts, Ollis does not appear as a legend or abstract hero, but as a soldier who at a decisive minute did what he felt was right.
This possible was besides crucial to the household of the fallen American. Meetings with the rescued Polish officer allowed them to see the real dimension of the son's sacrifice – not only in military papers and ceremonies, but in the further life of another man. In time, this relation became 1 of the arguments cited in the efforts for the highest honour, as it showed that Ollie's actions had lasting, concrete consequences that went far beyond the battlefield.
Further levels of administration
Although the army comparatively rapidly awarded the Cross of Outstanding Service to Ollie, the parents of the fallen soldier felt that his action in Ghazni deserved the highest American combat award. They did not run publically or prosecute media publicity. Their efforts were in the nature of a long, formal procedure, based on the collection of papers and witnesses' evidence and the observance of the military procedures in force.
In subsequent years, the family, supported by veterans and erstwhile superiors of Ollis, sought a reassessment of the evidence. Reports from the scene and consistent statements of soldiers who witnessed the attack were crucial. They clearly indicated that Ollis deliberately put his own life at hazard to save another soldier, having no work under the order.
The reassessment procedure in the American military strategy is complicated and multi-stage. It requires multiple verifications, commanders' opinions, military historians and defence department lawyers (now Department of War). In this case, it lasted for years, and its pace further slowed down that the case afraid combat events involving allied soldiers. The final advice had to go through further levels of administration before it hit the president's desk.
Spotted and remembered
Michael Ollis' communicative besides found a reflection on the Polish side. 1 of the evidence was posthumous award of the Polish Army to the fallen Gold Medal. This discrimination is given to foreigners for their peculiar merits to the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland and in this case was a clear signal that the American soldier's actions were considered part of the Polish mission past in Afghanistan. It was a state gesture, but at the same time profoundly individual in its sense.
Parallel forms of permanent commemoration appeared. At Camp Kościuszko in Poznań – a place of common service of Polish and American soldiers – his name was given to the cafeteria. In this way, Ollie's name was included in the regular service, not just in the ceremonial dimension of memory.
The household of the fallen soldier was repeatedly invited to Poland, participated in military ceremonies and meetings with soldiers of the Polish Army. These visits were of a peculiar nature: they were not only a diplomatic gesture, but a form of individual thanks and confirmation that Michael Ollis's victim was noticed and remembered in Poland.
High-risk actions
The Medal of Honor is the highest military honor of the United States, awarded for acts of exceptional heroism made in combat conditions. The medal is given "in the name of Congress" by the president of the United States to soldiers who have shown "visible courage and intrepidity, putting their lives beyond and beyond work of service." The criteria for granting it are much more stringent than for any another American combat award.
In practice, this means that the Medal of Honor only goes to soldiers whose actions have been expressly confirmed by witnesses, operational documentation and multi-step command analysis. A key component is the conscious, voluntary vulnerability of life to immediate danger, without the work of an order. The medal award procedure may take years and shall cover further levels of command, The War Department and peculiar committees assessing the conformity of the act with the restrictive definition of distinction.
Since the establishment of the Medal of Honor during the civilian War it has been awarded a full of little than 3.6 1000 times. A crucial proportion of these broadcasts were posthumous, reflecting the scale of the hazard associated with acts that meet the criteria for designation.
