Ross A. McGinnis

He pinned a live grenade beneath his body to save his squad.

Ross Andrew McGinnis was born on 14 June 1987 and grew up in Knox, Pennsylvania. He wanted to be a soldier from childhood and enlisted while still a teenager. Infantry training led to service with 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, and deployment to Iraq in 2006.

On 4 December 2006, Private First Class McGinnis was the gunner of a Humvee patrolling Baghdad's Adhamiyah district. An insurgent threw a grenade through his open turret into the vehicle, where four other soldiers were trapped. McGinnis shouted a warning. Rather than escape through the hatch, he dropped inside and pressed his body against the grenade.

The explosion killed him, but all four of his comrades survived. He was 19. His Army career ended in that action; he was posthumously promoted to specialist. His parents, Tom and Romayne, received his Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush on 2 June 2008. The soldiers he saved attended his subsequent Hall of Heroes induction.

Official Medal of Honor citation:

Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an M2 .50-caliber Machine Gunner, 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, in connection with combat operations against an armed enemy in Adhamiyah, Northeast Baghdad, Iraq, on 4 December 2006. That afternoon his platoon was conducting combat control operations in an effort to reduce and control sectarian violence in the area.

While Private McGinnis was manning the M2 .50-caliber Machine Gun, a fragmentation grenade thrown by an insurgent fell through the gunner's hatch into the vehicle. Reacting quickly, he yelled "grenade," allowing all four members of his crew to prepare for the grenade's blast. Then, rather than leaping from the gunner's hatch to safety, Private McGinnis made the courageous decision to protect his crew.

In a selfless act of bravery, in which he was mortally wounded, Private McGinnis covered the live grenade, pinning it between his body and the vehicle and absorbing most of the explosion. Private McGinnis' gallant action directly saved four men from certain serious injury or death.

Private First Class McGinnis' extraordinary heroism and selflessness at the cost of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.