Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor will be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on April 8, 2008.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor fought dozens of battles in the streets of Ramadi, shouldering his MK48 machine gun without complaint in the 130-degree heat of Iraq's violent Anbar province.
In May 2006, only a month into his first deployment to Iraq, the 25-year-old Navy SEAL from Garden Grove, Calif., ran under fire into a street to drag to safety a wounded comrade who was shot in the leg, earning a Silver Star for his courage.
On Sept. 29, 2006, another act of valor would cost Monsoor his life — and save the lives of three comrades. For that act, he will posthumously be awarded a Medal of Honor on April 8, the White House said yesterday.
Monsoor "distinguished himself through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life," said an official summary of action. He is the first sailor and the third service member overall to receive a Medal of Honor for actions in the war in Iraq.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor gave his life saving the other members of his SEAL team by throwing himself onto a live hand grenade thrown into their post on that September day. I first posted about Petty Officer Monsoor in October of 2006. I still have no adequate words to describe his heroism.
If not for the men and women serving in the military America would be lost, dazed and confused; all other institutions (education, religious, political, media )have corrupted themselves while the military remains the champions of the indomitable American spirit..
Petty Officer Monsoor is the American spirit I will always defend.
A tribute that is well earned and well deserved. PO Monsoor is the epitome of the warrior spirit. May he rest in peace.