Remembering the Fallen: Specialist Ross A. McGinnis

Specialist Ross McGinnis would have only been twenty-one if he had lived to receive the Medal of Honor.  Regardless of his youth, he made an impact on the people he worked with.  They call him a natural leader and the comedian of the group.  His parents said that after he came back from his Army training it was as though he had grown taller.

McGinnis was part of a group that was delivering a generator that would increase electricity in the community when they were attacked.  When a grenade was thrown, McGinnis covered it with his body and absorbed the impact, preventing it from injuring anyone else around it.  The entire narrative can be read here.

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.

The citation can be found here.  McGinnis should not have had to die that day, however, his courageousness will never be forgotten.