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He 'Gave All For His Country'

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The Associated Press

Published: June 3, 2008

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday presented the nation's highest military award to a 19-year-old soldier who died saving the lives of four comrades in Iraq by jumping on a grenade tossed into their military vehicle.

The honored soldier, Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis, "gave all for his country," the president said somberly.

"No one outside this man's family can know the true weight of their loss. But in words spoken long ago, we are told how to measure the kind of devotion that Ross McGinnis showed on his last day: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'"

The president spoke in the East Room at a ceremony attended by Vice President Dick Cheney, prior recipients of the Medal of Honor, military leaders, McGinnis' parents, Tom and Romayne, and his two sisters, Becky and Katie. The four soldiers protected by McGinnis' actions attended.

McGinnis was in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee on Dec. 4, 2006, on a patrol in Iraq, when a grenade sailed past him and into the vehicle where the four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning, then jumped on the grenade while it was lodged near the vehicle's radio.

Three others who were awarded the honor for service in Iraq also received it posthumously, including Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith of Tampa.

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