An American Hero - Medal of Honor Recipient - Ross McGinnis

From Investors Business Daily (published August 11, 2008):

Congress created the U.S. Army on June 14, 1784, and exactly 203 years later, Ross McGinnis was born.

As a kindergartner, Ross was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. He gave one answer: a soldier.

And what a GI he turned out to be.

On June 2 — two weeks before he would have turned 21 — McGinnis was given the Medal of Honor, America's highest award for valor.

Unfortunately, he was the 620th recipient to have it bestowed posthumously. Of the 3,448 people honored since President Lincoln signed off on the medal in 1862, McGinnis was only the seventh to receive it since the Vietnam War.

McGinnis displayed his heroism in the Iraq War — especially in December 2006. The private first class was part of motorized patrol in a northeast enclave of Baghdad. From his vantage in the gun turret, he spotted a grenade sailing at his Humvee.

The hand-held bomb flew past McGinnis, through the turret and into the vehicle, landing on the radio controls. He yelled out a warning to the four other soldiers riding inside, but they didn't have time to escape. He decided saving four lives was better than sparing one.

Without hesitation, the 19-year-old smothered the live grenade with his body and absorbed the explosion, which killed him...Continued