Michael Anthony Monsoor

Shielded his SEAL teammates from a deadly grenade in Ramadi.

Michael Anthony Monsoor was born on 5 April 1981 in Long Beach, California, and grew up in Garden Grove. He graduated from Garden Grove High School in 1999 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 21 March 2001. After recruit training and Quartermaster school, he served at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. He completed Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training with Class 250 on 2 September 2004, then graduated from SEAL Qualification Training in March 2005. The following month he changed rating to Master-at-Arms and joined Delta Platoon, SEAL Team 3.

Monsoor deployed to Iraq in April 2006 as a machine gunner and communicator. His platoon operated in Ramadi, covering fellow SEALs and Iraqi soldiers as they moved through the city. On 9 May he exposed himself to enemy fire to help drag a wounded teammate to safety, an action recognized with the Silver Star. His Iraq service also earned the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V.

On 29 September 2006, Monsoor was part of a combined SEAL and Iraqi Army sniper overwatch element on a rooftop in Ramadi. An insurgent grenade struck his chest and fell among the men. He shouted a warning and had a route to escape, but instead threw himself onto the grenade. His body absorbed the blast and saved the two SEALs beside him. Mortally wounded, he died about 30 minutes later, aged 25. He received the Purple Heart and was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.

President George W. Bush presented Monsoor's posthumous Medal of Honor to his parents at the White House on 8 April 2008. The guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Monsoor was later named in his honor.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as automatic weapons gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 29 September 2006. As a member of a combined SEAL and Iraqi Army Sniper Overwatch Element, tasked with providing early warning and stand-off protection from a rooftop in an insurgent held sector of Ar Ramadi, Iraq, Petty Officer Monsoor distinguished himself by his exceptional bravery in the face of grave danger. In the early morning, insurgents prepared to execute a coordinated attack by reconnoitering the area around the element’s position. Element snipers thwarted the enemy’s initial attempt by eliminating two insurgents. The enemy continued to assault the element, engaging them with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire. As enemy activity increased, Petty Officer Monsoor took position with his machine gun between two teammates on an outcropping of the roof. While the SEALs vigilantly watched for enemy activity, an insurgent threw a hand grenade from an unseen location, which bounced off Petty Officer Monsoor’s chest and landed in front of him. Although only he could have escaped the blast, Petty Officer Monsoor chose instead to protect his teammates. Instantly and without regard for his own safety, he threw himself onto the grenade to absorb the force of the explosion with his body, saving the lives of his two teammates. By his undaunted courage, fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of certain death, Petty Officer Monsoor gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.