Redemption, Courage, Sacrifice

Somewhere near here, Valhalla or Fiddler’s Green, a band of brothers is welcoming a new friend. Standing at attention are men like Alvin York, Audie Murphy and Douglas MacArthur. A new hero has come home.

It wasn’t a very long road for Ross McGinnis. He was just 19 when he became a legend. It had not been a long road but it had some twists and turns.

Ross McGinnis was not always hero material. He grew up in a small town in western Pennsylvania, the only boy in a family with two gifted girls. His father suggests Bart Simpson as a good image of this underachiever.

At fourteen he made several mistakes, bought some marijuana and talked about it at school. When school administrators looked further, they found a couple of knives in his locker.

Suspension and court followed.

Given time to think, Ross thought. At some point he talked with an Army recruiter. In his junior year he enlisted in the United States Army under the delayed enlistment program. Those who knew him saw the change. Despite academic struggles, he graduated from high school and joined the Army.

After basic and advanced infantry training, Ross came home on leave. He was a changed man. He was a soldier.

In Germany, training for deployment to Iraq, Ross made his mark with his fellow soldiers. He was the platoon funny man, able to make men laugh even after a long day. He was also recognized as a born leader, and excelled at the skills a combat soldier needs.

His unit was assigned to northeastern Baghdad, and violence was a daily happening. In late November his unit fought off a five hour attack in which dozens of the enemy were killed. McGinnis’s photo was on the cover of the Middle East edition of Stars & Stripes for November 30 as they covered that battle.

December 4, 2006 was like most days. The unit geared up for a patrol and the delivery of a generator. Six vehicles pulled out of Combat Outpost Apache. McGinnis was the .50 cal gunner on the rear vehicle, a position he was expert at.

The vehicles ahead heard an explosion and when they looked, found McGinnis’s vehicle severely damaged with all four of its doors blown off. Medics found four wounded soldiers and McGinnis. McGinnis was dead.

It all happened in a matter of seconds.

McGinnis saw an insurgent throw a grenade from a nearby rooftop. He tried to deflect it but it dropped through the hatch behind him. Training told him to holler “Grenade” and then jump clear. That is not what this hero did.

He saw the grenade lodged in some equipment below him. The doors were locked and the four soldiers in the truck had no chance to escape. McGinnis dropped down into the Humvee and pressed his back against the radio where the grenade had come to rest, covering the blast with his body.

Ross McGinnis, a little over six feet tall and a lanky 130 some pounds, took the force of the explosion. One of the other soldiers was seriously wounded, and the other three received less serious injuries. All of them lived because of Ross McGinnis.

On June 2, 2008 the President of the United States will present the Medal of Honor to the family of Ross McGinnis. He will speak about courage and sacrifice. His fellow heroes in Valhalla and Fiddler’s Green know all about that.

It may be the the President of the United States will also talk about redemption. Ross McGinnis was once a troubled youth on a clear path to nowhere. Then, he chose to become a soldier in the United States Army. He chose to become a warrior.

This young man, this ordinary young man, found a place that gave him a path, people who became comrades and friends, and he found a time that for all eternity became his time.

God bless you, Ross McGinnis.

Ross McGinnis MoH site
Army News story by Carrie McLeroy
Scripps Newspaper by Milan Simonich

Ross McGinnis MoH site

President Bush has announced that Spc. Ross McGinnis will posthumously be awarded the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony June 2, two weeks shy of what would have been his 21st birthday.

McGinnis will be just the second U.S. Soldier to receive the medal for actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom and a special Web site dedicated to his heroics has been created by the Soldiers Media Center at www.army.mil/medalofhonor/McGinnis. The site includes a profile on the 1st Infantry Division Soldier, battlescape, background on the medal, video news reports and a number of other resources.

Story of a Hero

McGinnis began his transformation from scrawny boy to standout Soldier at 17, enlisting in the Army through the Delayed Entry Program in June 2004. Although not remembered as a troublemaker, McGinnis was not interested in school, and spent his teen years struggling to eek by.

“He put us through our trials, definitely. From little up, he liked to push the limits,” his mother, Romayne, said. “You never knew what was going to come out of his mouth or out of his actions.”

In high school, McGinnis never made the honor roll or played sports. According to teachers, he made his mark, but in ways that were uniquely Ross.

“He stood out, but just by bits and pieces,” said Franki Sheatz, McGinnis’s 9th and 11th-grade French teacher at Keystone High School. “When he stood out, a lot of times it was because of his wit, or because he was trying to get away with something. He never did any more or less than a lot of the other kids I had in class, although he was charming in his little way.”

His parents and teachers agreed that the catalyst that sparked a change in McGinnis was his decision to join the military.

“He came to us and said he wanted join the Army, and we accepted that,” said McGinnis’s father Tom. The way we looked at it was that he had no intention of going to school, and there really aren’t very good jobs for a person that doesn’t have higher education. The Army was an opportunity for him to be able to get the kind of education that he wanted.”

The younger McGinnis had aspirations of one day becoming an automotive technician. The Army, in his eyes, was a means to that end – a place where he could serve his country as an infantryman, but receive an off-duty education that would prepare him for a future career.

Once McGinnis made the decision to join the Army, that became his focus. “The different conversations I had with Ross sometimes were over academics and encouraging him to do his best and that he had goals in mind,” Vicky Walters, Keystone High’s principal said. “We were encouraging him to complete those goals…He indicated he would do what it took to get the job done.” He would finish high school so he could join the Army.

His parents shared concerns about their son enlisting during a time of war, but knew if he stayed in Knox, his odds of making something of himself were limited. “He had just as much chance at home of ending up dead as he did in Iraq at that point,” Tom said. “When young men get out of school and they don’t have an education, it’s a dangerous life for them for several years. Something could happen at home as quick as it could over there. I knew that in the Army he was going to have a serious discipline. He was going to be trained, and that would help him stay on the right path.”

McGinnis left his rural Pennsylvania town for basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., within days of graduating from Keystone High School, just before his 18th birthday. During the first stage of training, McGinnis’s parents received a phone call from him. “He said the first week was boring, a lot of, ‘Hurry up and wait,’” Romayne said. In subsequent calls, he conveyed his increasing enthusiasm.

“He really liked the physical part of the training. Ross wasn’t one to push a pencil. He wanted to be actively involved,” she said. “He was really excited about the weapons training. While in Boy Scouts, they went to a shooting range once and he really liked that, so it didn’t surprise me when he said he wanted to go with the gunner position.”

According to reports from fellow Soldiers, McGinnis’s interest in weapons was crafted into a skill set that would serve him well in his position as an.50-caliber machine gunner.

Soldier Among Civilians

McGinnis finished basic and then infantry training in Georgia and headed home to Knox on leave before reporting to his first assignment in Germany. The changes in him were evident, and shocking to some.

“He looked so much taller. He wasn’t. I think it was the uniform really,” Romayne said. “But it was, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and, ‘No, ma’am.” And I was like, ‘Who is this kid?’ He had a lot of respect, not that Ross ever disrespected us, but there was definitely that attitude that the Army had bred into him already in that short amount of time.”

Tom echoed his wife’s feelings about the new Soldier. “When he came home on leave and he was around civilians, he felt uneasy because other people seemed to be sloppy and lazy as compared to what it was like in the military. He was definitely different and thought differently after he’d gone through the training. It was surprising, because I don’t know if I ever knew anyone like that before, especially my own son. He had learned and grown quite a bit.”

His former teachers saw maturity in him that didn’t exist before he became a Soldier. “He has been described as a 100-percent guy or a zero-percent guy,” Erik Sundling, Ross’s 12th-grade English teacher, said when he talked about the effort McGinnis put forth if he was interested in something, and the lack thereof when he wasn’t. “He came back in uniform and he was the 100-percent Ross. He was very proud to wear the uniform.”

When his family learned that McGinnis’s first assignment would be to a Germany-based infantry regiment scheduled for an Iraq deployment, they worried but wished him well. “I told him, ‘Be safe. Think before you act.’ Any parent would say that to their child, I’m sure. We thought he was coming back,” Romayne said.

Soldier’s Soldier

McGinnis arrived in Schweinfurt, Germany in November 2005 and reported to 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment with an influx of Soldiers as the company was preparing for its upcoming mission to Iraq. According to retired Staff Sgt. Ian Newland, he immediately became in instrumental part of the team.

“His personality and humor made him stand out. He was the comedian out of everybody,” Newland, a squad leader with 1st Platoon at the time, said. “You could be having the worst day in the field, or the worst day in the rear “D”, and Ross would come in a room and everybody would be laughing within three minutes.”

Ross was known as the funny guy with an infectious smile from the day he joined the unit, Newland said. “I have this image of him, even today. We were in Germany and he was up on a .50-cal gunning. We had been doing a convoy for probably around eight hours. I was in the vehicle behind him and he turned around and smiled at my gunner. His teeth were just covered in dirt from being up on the gun, but he’s just still smiling ear to ear. That right there was just him.”

His gifts extended beyond platoon funny man according to his leaders, who said he was also a top-notch Soldier.

“I had four platoons, roughly 190 Soldiers in my command. There were certain Soldiers that would stand out. McGinnis was definitely one of those Soldiers,” said Maj. Michael Baka, commander of C Company from June 2005 to March 2007. “He was one of the top members of his platoon. His platoon sergeant handpicked him to serve as the machine gunner on his Humvee, which speaks highly of his performance.” McGinnis excelled in weaponry, marksmanship and physical training as well.

He was also a born leader, Newland said, who knew how to read and react to different Soldiers in a variety of situations. “People responded to him, and he knew how to respond to people’s personalities and characters. That is one of the hardest traits to build as a leader, to be able to adapt, per Soldier. He had that naturally.”

Adamiyah

The first unit from the battalion on the ground, C Co. arrived in Iraq Aug. 4, 2006 following a week of training in Kuwait. Combat Outpost Apache in Adamiyah, a northeast section of Baghdad steeped in sectarian violence, was to be their home. The area had lacked a U.S. presence for eight months.

“There were a lot of kidnappings, killings and a lot of enemy activity in our sector,” Baka said. Insurgent attacks, sniper fire, grenade contact and IEDs were all part of daily life in Adamiyah.

In October, just two months into the deployment, C Co. had already lost two of its Soldiers; Staff Sgt. Garth Sizemore to a sniper’s bullet, and Sgt. Willsun Mock in an IED explosion. In November, after Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity, the battalion fought a five-hour battle against enemy insurgents who attacked the outpost.

By December, the men of 1/26 were battle hardened, but McGinnis had a way of taking the focus off the tragedies.

“He was constantly motivating and positive all the time, and that really helped the platoon out a lot. He was key in our platoon because of that,” Newland said. “Right after we lost Sgt. Sizemore, we were all really shocked – it really hit home. And then Sgt. Mock – we were getting pretty depressed. But Ross, he knew how to take our attention off of that – all of us – from senior leaders to your private Joe. He knew how to respond.”

That Fateful Day

Dec. 4, 2006, 1st Plt. was gearing up to patrol the streets of Adamiyah and deliver a 250-kilowatt generator to provide increased electricity to the area. Insurgents had been lobbing grenades at vehicles on patrols, and in response the platoon had honed it’s reaction skills through a series of training scenarios Newland likened to fire drills. He had experienced such an incident nine days earlier on patrol, but the grenade turned out to be a dud.

As they rolled out of Apache’s gates, the men in the six-vehicle patrol felt up to their mission, despite ever-present dangers, as they did each time they patrolled Adamiyah’s streets, Baka said. “We had only just left the gate. We were moving deliberately down the streets, and had just taken a left-hand turn on a main road just south of Abu Hanifah mosque.”

Baka’s was the fourth vehicle in the order of movement. The platoon sergeant’s vehicle was the last, as is typical for a standard patrol, and McGinnis manned its machine gun.

According to official statements from Sgt. Lyle Buehler (the driver), Sgt. 1st Class Cedric Thomas (platoon sergeant and truck commander), Spc. Sean Lawson (medic) and Newland, McGinnis sat in the gunner strap, .50-cal at the ready, facing backward to ensure rear security. Buehler and Thomas rode in the front of the vehicle, and Newland and Lawson in the back.

As the sixth vehicle made the left turn, Baka heard a loud explosion. His initial thought was that a grenade had exploded outside his own up-armored Humvee. Baka’s machine gunner got on the intercom and said, “Sir, it looks like our last vehicle got hit.” All four of the Humvee’s doors had been blown off. Baka ordered his vehicle and the one behind it to turn around. “Once I saw the vehicle I knew right away that we had a hand grenade that had entered the vehicle, and that we had a large number of casualties,” he said.

Baka got a new driver for the crippled but still running Humvee, and they headed back to Apache. He said he knew the Soldiers had sustained injuries, but did not know to what extent until arriving at the outpost. He didn’t know that McGinnis was dead, or that he died a hero.

Thomas pulled Baka aside within minutes of arriving at Apache and said, “Sir, McGinnis saved our lives today.” Then he told the story that would support that statement.

An insurgent on a nearby rooftop threw a grenade at McGinnis’s vehicle. He unsuccessfully attempted to deflect the grenade, and it entered the vehicle behind him. McGinnis quickly announced, “Grenade!”

According to official accounts by survivors, McGinnis stood up and was preparing to jump out of the vehicle. “That is what the machine gunner is supposed to do,” Baka said. “He’s supposed to announce the grenade, give a fair amount of time for people in the vehicle to react, and then he’s supposed to save himself. No one would have blamed him if he did that, because that is what he was trained to do.”

This time, the 19-year-old Soldier would not heed his training.

The other Soldiers asked, “Where?” McGinnis’s response – “It’s in the truck!”

McGinnis saw the grenade sitting on the radio mount behind him and realized the others weren’t aware of its location. They were combat-locked in the Humvee and would not have time to escape. As he gave his response, he pushed the gunner strap out from under him and laid his back on top of the grenade. It detonated, killing him instantly.

Buehler and Thomas received minor shrapnel injuries, and Lawson suffered a perforated eardrum and concussion. Newland received more of the blast and was severely wounded, but would survive. “The driver and truck commander I am certain would have been killed if that blast had taken full effect,” Baka said.

Newland, who was medically retired because of his injuries, was able to protect himself because of McGinnis’s warning. “He put his arm over his face, which I think saved his life, because a piece of shrapnel hit him in the arm. Another hit him in the chin and some in his legs. But he’s alive today,” Baka added.

Within 24 hours of McGinnis’s sacrifice, Baka gathered statements from the survivors and wrote the recommendation for his Medal of Honor. He received the Silver Star, the third-highest award for valor, as an interim award.

Magnitude of his Sacrifice

“The first time it became full magnitude for me was when we were loading his body onto the helicopter for the hero flight – that’s standard,” Baka said. The unit held a small, informal ceremony and Baka led them in a prayer, as there was no chaplain at the combat outpost. As the helicopter flew away, they saluted the young man who laid down his life so the men he loved and served with could live.

“We have hero flights for every Soldier, and every Soldier that gives his life’s a hero. But McGinnis, in my mind, is the definition of hero,” Baka said. “From this day forward if anyone ever asks me to define the word hero, I would simply tell them the story of Spc. Ross McGinnis and the actions he took that day to save four of his brothers.”

For the men who survived, each breath they take serves as a reminder of McGinnis’s courageous sacrifice.

“By all means I should have died that day. He gave me a life that he can’t have now,” Newland said. “There isn’t a single day or hour that goes by that I don’t take in everything. The smell of my daughter’s hair, the smile my son gives me out of nowhere, the soft touch of my wife’s hand just driving in the car. Normally those are things people might take for granted. I’m able to appreciate and have these things all over again, every day, every hour, because of what Ross did.”

Regular Guy Who did an Extraordinary Thing

Tom McGinnis is still adjusting to the fact that his son, who he described as average, often to the point of being an underachiever, is receiving the Medal of Honor.

“I never pictured what a Medal of Honor winner is supposed to look like, but I guess I would think of somebody like a John Wayne character in the movies, where the guy is macho and tough and fear is nothing,” Tom said. “But of course, that’s not anywhere close to what my son, Ross, was like. Although he had very little fear in him, he wasn’t a tough, macho type of person. He was just like you and me.” For those outside the Army closest to McGinnis, he was a regular guy who came through for his friends when it mattered.

Remembering Ross McGinnis

For his brothers in arms, the best way to remember McGinnis is to tell the story of what he did for them Dec. 4, 2006, and to live their lives every day with purpose and meaning.

“I think for me to thank him, is to do everything I can to live my life to the fullest,” Newland said. “Because if he can have courage like that, if he can give up his 19-year-old life, then I can live the rest of my life, however long it is, to every day’s fullest.”

The family McGinnis left behind still wrestles with his hero status and the wounds that haven’t had a chance to heal. Tom and Romayne said the constant focus on their son and what he did honors his memory, but keeps already raw emotions on the surface.

“It’s been good, because people want to keep his memory alive, and people do things to show you that it really meant a lot to them,” Tom said. “But at the same time, it doesn’t give us a chance to just drop it for a while…it keeps that wound fresh. It’s painful, but eventually once everything dies down, then I think that the healing process will start.”

The McGinnis’s remember their son as an average kid who made mistakes but found purpose and direction as he became a young man, just like many other kids out of high school. For them, it is difficult to think of Ross as the larger-than-life character others may see him as because of his sacrifice.

“I’ve had people ask me if I’d like a book or a movie written about him, and I say, ‘No.” They would have to write so much into this to make it readable or viewable that Ross wouldn’t even be in there. It wouldn’t be him,” Tom said. “It would be somebody else, because his life was dull, boring and nothing to write about. He was just an ordinary person who, when it came time, did the right thing, and that’s the most important thing to remember about him.”

(This story was written from videotaped interviews of the sources. Sgt. 1st Class Pete Mayes and Staff Sgt. Ray Flores of Soldiers Radio and Television conducted the interviews.)

U.S. Army
BY Carrie McLeroy

Spc. Ross McGinnis, who was killed Dec. 4, 2006, in Iraq when he smothered a grenade with his body, will receive the Medal of Honor, sources told Army Times.

McGinnis, 19, is the second soldier to receive the nation’s highest valor award for actions while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, who was killed April 4, 2003, fighting off insurgents in a fierce firefight south of Baghdad, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor two years after he died.

McGinnis, of 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, is credited with saving the lives of four fellow soldiers.

On Dec. 4, 2006, McGinnis was manning the turret in the last Humvee of a six-vehicle patrol in Adhamiyah in northeast Baghdad when an insurgent threw a grenade from the roof of a nearby building.

“Grenade!” yelled McGinnis, who was manning the vehicle’s M2 .50-caliber machine gun.

McGinnis, facing backwards because he was in the rear vehicle, tried to deflect the grenade but it fell into the Humvee and lodged between the radios.

As he stood up to get ready to jump out of the vehicle, as he had been trained to do, McGinnis realized the other four soldiers in the Humvee did not know where the grenade had landed and did not have enough time to escape.

McGinnis, a native of Knox, Pa., threw his back against the radio mount, where the grenade was lodged, and smothered the explosive with his body.

The grenade exploded, hitting McGinnis on his sides and lower back, under his vest. He was killed instantly. The other four men survived.

Army Times

A comment left on Blackfive’s story about McGinnis:

SPC McGinnis was a great soldier and I am alive due to his sacrifice. I was the driver of the vehicle the day we lost Ross to a cowardly enemy. I thank God everyday for blessing me with the opportunity to serve with such a brave man. For those of you that think the award process is moving to slow just know that it is seen and evaluated by many people in our chain of command. I as well would like to see it ASAP. The award requires alot of diagrams, witness statements from all who were there, and those that approve and later send to congress need to see what happened in detail otherwise they would be giving awards based on word of mouth.

I agree with SSG Troy Smith, it is carefully looked over so that no fraudelant cases arise. I have no doubt in my mind that he will receive the nation’s highest honor for his heroism. God bless his family and parents for raising such a wonderful person, soldier, friend, and brother!

Rest in Peace Ross. Gone, but never forgotten!

I love you little brother. Thank you for my continued life here on earth and I look forward to seeing you in heaven.
Posted by: SGT Lyle Buehler

Every now and then you read a plaintive cry in one media outlet or another about the lack of heroes in the War on Terror. The sad truth is that when a man or woman is a hero both the military and the media fail to cover the story. Many heroes’ stories are found only in the Military Times or the Times version for their branch of service. I’ve covered just over 300 stories here at America’s North Shore Journal and each and every one cries out for more recognition.

Here are the stories of ten American heroes whose stories, I believe, call for far greater recognition than they have received. Should each one of these brave men be a candidate for a future Medal of Honor? The MoH’s for this war have all been upgrades from the Silver Star, which is what each of these ten men have been given.

• Sgt. 1st Class Gary Villalobos – ambushed. Senior officer wounded. IA ran. He stood his ground and fought.
• Capt. Christopher P. Niedziocha – Marine. 23 Taliban killed, 3 Marines wounded.
• Master Sgt. Suran Sar – Special Forces. Known in the community as an outstanding warrior.
• Sgt. Joseph Proctor – prevented a VIED attack at the cost of his own life.
• PFC Ross A. McGinnis – MoH nomination said to be on a desk in the Pentagon. MoH June 2 2008
• Captain Brian G. Cillessen – Special Forces. Proudest of assisting in Afghan election.
• Staff Sgt. Brandon Zylstra – think a paratrooper Audi Murphy.
• Staff Sergeant Chad Malmberg – from the Red Bulls, Minnesota National Guard.
• Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller – Special Forces. A story that has not yet been told.
• Corporal Sean Andrew Stokes – the Marine who redeemed himself.

There are dozens more that deserve upgrades, Bronze Stars to Silver Stars, to DSC’s or Navy Crosses, or to the Medal itself.

You will not have heard of any of these men, I expect. You owe them. We all owe them.

Click here to read the entire category WOT Heroes

Ross McGinnis was memorialized Sunday, December 17, 2006 in his home town of Knox, Pennsylvania.

The Derrick

KNOX – One soldier’s rare act of bravery is continuing to reverberate throughout the community as his family prepares to honor him at a memorial service Sunday afternoon.

This week, Pfc. Ross McGinnis, 19, was posthumously awarded the Silver Star – the third highest award for bravery – from the U.S. military for actions that led to his death on Dec. 4.

The Keystone High School Class of 2005 graduate is now being recommended to receive the Medal of Honor for that same incident in which he dove onto a grenade that was thrown into his vehicle.

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for valor.

“It is sad that this young man’s heroic death has suddenly made the situation in Iraq brutally real for so many in this small community,” said teacher Frankie Sheatz.

State Rep. Fred McIlhattan, a Knox resident, said all Pennsylvania flags under Gov. Ed Rendell’s office will be flown at half-staff on Sunday in recognition of McGinnis’ sacrifice. He is also encouraging anyone else who has a state flag to fly it at half-staff that day.

A military service is scheduled at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul Lutheran Church near Knox.

Those who live and work in the area are showing their support for the soldier’s family in various ways. Small American flags and ribbons adorn the downtown streets in Knox Borough.

McGinnis’ classmates are putting together a scrapbook for his family, and donations are being received toward a memorial marker.

There is a “new patriotic spirit here,” said Angela Matthews, who graduated a year after McGinnis. Matthews is now an AmeriCorps member at Keystone SMILES in Knox. She said she had a couple classes with McGinnis, the son of Thomas and Romayne McGinnis.

He was in the gunner’s hatch of the vehicle when a grenade was hurled into the Humvee. Military accounts show he shouted a warning to four other soldiers in the vehicle and then hurled himself onto the grenade shortly before it detonated. All four soldiers were injured in the blast.

The E-4 soldier’s promotion to that rank came on the day he died.

“I think it’s very heroic,” said Matthews. “It’s really awesome. I didn’t see that side of him” in school.

The high school’s entrance signboard says, “We remember our hero – Ross McGinnis.”

Gary Altman of Beaver Township is among many who say they are inspired by the soldier’s commitment to his country.

McGinnis enlisted in the Army at the age of 17.

“He knew what he wanted to do,” said Altman.

History teacher Bill Irwin recalls McGinnis’ passion in his senior year after seeing videos of the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C. “He was an intensely focused young man and knew even then that he wanted a career in the military,” said Irwin.

He returned to the high school after his military graduation.

“The pride he felt in his uniform was obvious in his demeanor and attitude,” said Irwin. The teacher said he was quiet in class, “but never hesitated to speak up if he felt the need to voice his opinion on a subject.” “His death is a tragic loss for our school and community,” Irwin said.

Sheatz, who teaches French, remembers McGinnis as “always pleasant, polite and smiling.”

He was the nephew of Roxanne Miller, who is the director at the Knox Free Library. “Everybody is just very proud,” she said. The community-wide support for the family, for troops overseas and for those returning home “has been heartwarming,” said Miller.

Pittsburg News Tribune

McGinnis, remembered as a tall, lanky kid who preferred humor, adventure and service to his country over the classroom, was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest honor for bravery, and the Purple Heart, which were presented to his father, Thomas, and mother, Romayne.

Fellow soldiers have nominated him for the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award.

Hundreds of soldiers, veterans, state troopers, friends and residents stood outside the small church during the service. At 1:55 p.m., a silver and black Cadillac hearse bearing a casket with McGinnis’ ashes pulled into the church lot, followed by a lengthy procession of cars bearing his parents, sisters, grandmother and other family members.

As a bagpiper played, military pallbearers unloaded the flag-draped coffin and carried it inside the church. A minister then led the mourners with the entrance hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

Church leaders asked mourners to pray for McGinnis’ squadmates who were wounded in the attack. In the church basement, nearly 200 mourners watched the proceedings on a widescreen television set up for the occasion.

McGinnis graduated last year from Keystone High School and worked a brief stint at McDonald’s before enlisting in the Army. In Iraq, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division. The division is based in Schweinfurt, Germany. After getting to Iraq in July, McGinnis manned the .50-caliber machine gun mounted in a turret on a Humvee. It was a job he loved, friends said.

Pictures of McGinnis’ life lined the walls of the church basement. Snapshots showed the young McGinnis making faces with his two sisters after his high school graduation ceremony in the school gym. Another caught him as a baby perched on a kitchen counter. Others showed him on combat patrol in Iraq. In every picture, a wide smile creased McGinnis’ face.

Former classmates and McDonald’s colleagues Todd Culbertson, Mike Myers, Jake Kinnan and Doug Painter spoke warmly of their friend’s expansive sense of humor and infectious optimism. “He had a real strong sense of humor,” Culbertson said. “He was always dancing at work, even though it was McDonald’s.”

Culbertson’s friends agreed. “He was always trying to make things funny. Everybody is sad, but at the same time honored to have known him,” Kinnan said.

John Donovan reports that the MoH recommendation is in process and receiving special handling. Good!

Prior posts:

December 12, 2006

December 13, 2006

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

For those who have served, the ultimate deed of Pfc. McGinnis represents the moment of truth we have all considered: What would I do?

Pfc. McGinnis selflessly chose to answer this question through his actions, dismissing the political and philosophical fluff of words in the process. And for this, the name Ross A. McGinnis will never be forgotten in this veteran’s mind. Rest well, my brother.

Flickr photo

PittsburghChannel.Com/MSNBC

McGinnis’ father said the unit commander said McGinnis knew he didn’t have time to throw the grenade back, so he laid down on it on his back, trying to cover it with his body armor.

Obit in Clarion News

KNOX – U.S. Army Pfc. Ross A. McGinnis, 19, formerly of Wentlings Corners, who died December 4, 2006 , in Iraq , will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia .

Pfc. McGinnis was killed by a grenade thrown into his vehicle from a rooftop in Baghdad . Pfc. McGinnis, a 2005 Keystone High School graduate, placed himself between the grenade and his four fellow soldiers in the vehicle.

Pfc. McGinnis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt , Germany .

Pfc. McGinnis is the son of Thomas and Romayne McGinnis of the Knox area. His survivors include two sisters, Rebecca and Katie.

Pfc. McGinnis also is survived by a special friend, Christina Wendel of Ganheim , Bavaria , in Germany .

A military memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church along Twin Church Road in Knox, with full military honors and pastor Deborah Jacobson officiating. His remains will then be transferred to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington , D.C. The date and time of the memorial service will be announced as soon as possible.

The family suggests 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 Ross’s unit may be sent to: SFC Cedric Thomas, 1st Platoon, C/1-26 IN, Task Force Blue Spader, APO AE 09390-1537.

UPI

Lt. Gen. Pete Chiarelli, the outgoing commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, told Pentagon reporters Friday about what happened in the Humvee. McGinnis’ family had not yet been completely notified then, so he did not reveal his name.

“Serving on a combat patrol as a Humvee gunner, the soldier saw a hand grenade coming at his vehicle and tried to deflect it. He was unsuccessful. The grenade slipped past him and into the truck that he was riding in. He shouted, ‘Grenade!’ and began to jump out of the truck per the standard grenade drill that the unit had. When he looked back, he saw that no one else inside the truck had heeded his warning, that somehow they had thought that his shouting of ‘Grenade!’ meant that there was a grenade outside the vehicle,” Chiarelli said. “And in a singular act of heroism, this soldier, who was halfway out of the truck, dropped back into the truck and placed his body against that grenade, thereby saving the lives of the four other individuals that were inside that truck.”

The Derrick

KNOX – Members of the Knox community on Wednesday declared one of their own a true hero – the combat soldier Ross A. McGinnis who was killed in Iraq.

McGinnis, 19, represents the first death of a Clarion County resident serving in Iraq.

He was the son of Tom and Romayne McGinnis.

No formal plans for a memorial service have yet been announced.

A casualty assistance officer with the Department of Defense is handling the arrangements.

Those in Clarion County responded quickly to the news announced Tuesday, offering the family their immediate support and helping hands.

McGinnis died from injuries he suffered when a grenade was thrown into his vehicle in Baghdad.

“He was doing what he believed in,” said Judy Zerbe of the county’s veterans affairs office. “We feel very proud for him.”

McGinnis was a 2005 graduate of Keystone High School, and his love of country was clear.

High school Principal Vicky Walters, who is acquainted with his family, said he had enlisted early in his senior year. “Ross was a homegrown hero,” she said. He was focused on completing the requirements for graduation and then going to basic training.

McGinnis returned to Keystone in uniform after completing the training. “It was apparent that he wore his country’s uniform with pride,” Walters said.

McGinnis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Walters said McGinnis was a gunner on a humvee.

“A grenade was dropped into the humvee from a rooftop,” she said. “Ross was aware of the location where the grenade landed. He did not have time to throw the grenade out of the vehicle. Instead, Ross threw himself onto the grenade to prevent further loss of life of the four other individuals in the vehicle.”

Zerbe said the county department, which is headed by VA director John Reed, plans to meet with the family at a later date to offer assistance. She said she doesn’t think the reality of the situation has sunk in yet for many.

“It’s when a young life is taken that it just really hits home,” Zerbe said. “It makes you numb.”

She is also dealing with the possibility her son, who is a member of the National Guard, may be deployed to Iraq next year. Zerbe said the situation there is made more difficult due to the fact “you don’t know who your enemy is.”

Tom McCoy, who serves as commander for the Knox American Legion, taught McGinnis when he was in ninth grade. McCoy has since retired and currently serves on the school board. “He was always happy and had a smile,” the commander said. “I was saddened” to hear the announcement.

And Clarion County Career Center automotive technology instructor Brent Johnson remembers McGinnis as an outstanding student who participated in the student compass and performed secretary/treasurer duties for the automotive department. “Ross was the type of student that made me proud to be a teacher,” Johnson said. “He will be greatly missed.”

Zerbe said she was told the community support for the family “has been unreal.” “It really shows what kind of community we live in,” she said.

Commissioners Dave Cyphert, Donna Hartle and Donna Oberlander extended their sympathies.

“We all feel very bad about one of Clarion County’s soldiers losing his life while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Hartle said. “We offer our thoughts and prayers to his family at this difficult time.” “May we all continue to appreciate the efforts of Pfc. Ross McGinnis and for all of our soldiers and troops defending freedom,” she said.

Walters said McGinnis personifies the true meaning of heroism. “So often we hear ‘he gave his life for his country,”‘ she said. “Through his actions, he gave his life for others.”

Prior post here

Silver Star – posthumous

Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Private First Class Ross A. McGinnis packed only 136 pounds into his 6-foot frame, but few have ever matched his inner strength.

McGinnis sacrificed himself in an act of supreme bravery on Dec. 4, belying his status as the youngest Soldier in Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

The 19-year-old amateur mechanic from Knox, Pa., who enjoyed poker and loud music, likely saved the lives of four Soldiers riding with him on a mission in Baghdad. McGinnis was manning the gunner’s hatch when an insurgent tossed a grenade from above. It flew past McGinnis and down through the hatch before lodging near the radio.

His platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Cedric Thomas of Longview, Texas, recalled what happened next. “Pfc. 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 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.

McGinnis was born June 14, 1987, and joined the Army right after graduating high school in 2005. He had been in the Army 18 months and made his mark even before his heroic deed.

“He was a good kid,” said C Company’s senior enlisted Soldier, 1st Sgt. Kenneth J. Hendrix. “He had just gotten approved for a waiver to be promoted to specialist.”

He also appeared on the Nov. 30 cover of Stars & Stripes, manning his turret.

Besides his military accomplishments, McGinnis leaves his friends and family with memories of a fun-loving, loyal man.

Private First Class 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, Private First ClassMichael 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.”

The brigade’s senior noncommissioned officer, Command Sgt. Maj. William Johnson, also had high praise for McGinnis. “Anytime when you get a Soldier to do something like that – to give his life to protect his fellow Soldiers – that’s what heroes are made of,” Johnson said. It also demonstrates, Johnson continued, that the ‘MySpace Generation’ has what it takes to carry on the Army’s proud traditions. “Some think Soldiers who come in today are all about themselves,” Johnson said. “I see it differently.”

The Silver Star has already been approved for McGinnis’ actions Dec.4, and will be awarded posthumously.

UPDATE 1: Also see John Donovan’s post. PFC McGinnis is nominated for the Medal of Honor.

From the November 30, 2006 Middle East edition of Stars & Stripes:

UPDATE 2:

UPDATE 3: Here is the Stars and Stripes story about McGinnis’s unit on November 5. They killed 38 terrorists in an all-day cleanup of their Baghdad neighborhood.

UPDATE 4: Matt at Blackfive has much more. This is McGinnis’s second Silver Star. The events of November 5 won him his first.