WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: MICHAEL HAROLD OLLIS

MICHAEL HAROLD OLLIS

DATE OF BIRTH: september 16, 1988

PLACE OF BIRTH:

NEW DORP, NEW YORK

HOME OF RECORD:

STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK

SILVER STAR

AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING: Global War on Terror

Service: ARMY

Battalion: 2d battalion, 10th mountain division

CITATION: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Staff Sergeant Michael Harold Ollis, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in connection with military operations against the enemy while serving with the 2d Battalion, 22d Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team,10th Mountain Division (Light), in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan, on 28 August 2013. On that date, a 3,000-pound car bomb breached the base's eastern perimeter wall, allowing ten insurgents in suicide vests to infiltrate the compound. At the time, Staff Sergeant Ollis sent his team from the post Morale, Welfare and Recreation building to get ready while he headed toward the blast site with only one magazine in his rifle and wearing no armor. There he found a Polish Lieutenant whose leg had reportedly taken shrapnel from the explosion. After helping him, Staff Sergeant Ollis moved the Polish officer to a point where other Special Forces personnel were engaged with the attacking insurgents. With 8 of the 10 insurgents killed, the Polish officer was wounded again in the other leg by a grenade thrown by the ninth attacker. Staff Sergeant was rendering first aid to the wounded officer when the final suicide-vest-wearing attacker approached from a different angle. Staff Sergeant Ollis stood up and moved himself between the Polish officer and the attacker, killing the enemy, however, the enemy's vest exploded, killing Staff Sergeant Ollis. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, at the cost of his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 10th Mountain Division, and the United States Army.