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Fallen Staten Island soldier Michael Ollis gets honor from

Poland for heroics during Afghan attack

silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf /2013/09/staten_island_soldier_michael.html

Eddie DAnna / Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis was already an American hero. Now he's an international hero, as well.
The New Dorp soldier who died in Afghanistan while shielding a Polish solder from a suicide bomber last month has
been honored posthumously by Poland’s Ministry of Defense.

Ollis, 24, was awarded the Polish Army Gold Medal, a distinction that recognizes service by a foreign soldier or civilian,
according to a report by the Military Times.

Polish Minister of Defense Tomasz Siemoniak said Wednesday on Twitter that Ollis received the award Sept. 4.
The Burbank Avenue resident, whose father served in Vietnam, died in Afghanistan Aug. 28, during an insurgent attack
that included grenades, rockets and a 3,000-pound bomb,” according to a report by the Army Times.

Ollis stepped into the path of an unnamed Polish officer, blocking him from the suicide vest of an insurgent who had
raided Forward Operating Base Ghazni.

Ollis, a Fort Drum, N.Y., soldier, of the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain
Division (Light), stepped into the path of an unnamed Polish officer, blocking him from the suicide vest of an insurgent
who had raided Forward Operating Base Ghazni.
He has also been nominated for a Silver Star, the third-highest military decoration for valor, an Army source told the
Army Times.

The nomination is working its way through Ollis’ chain of command in Afghanistan.