13 December 2006
By Michelle Tan
Courtesy of Army Times
Specialist Ross A. McGinnis has been nominated by his commanders for the Medal of Honor, said Major Sean Ryan, a spokesman for 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
On December 4, 2006, while on duty in Baghdad, Iraq, McGinnis used his body to smother a grenade, saving the lives of four fellow soldiers. McGinnis died from the blast.
McGinnis, 19, was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, which is attached to 2nd BCT.
Only one soldier and one Marine have received the Medal of Honor since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and there has been debate about why there have been so few recipients of the nation’s highest award for valor.
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Arlington National Cemetery Website.
I have also wondered why so few.