Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, a 10th Mountain Division soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in 2013 while shielding a Polish military officer from an explosion, will be awarded the Medal of Honor.

President Donald Trump announced the award in a call Tuesday with Ollis’ parents, Robert and Linda Ollis, according to their statement, which was posted on the SSG Michael Ollis Freedom Foundation website.

“As Michael's parents, nothing can ever fill the void left in our hearts,” the Ollises wrote. “For now, we wish to thank God for the 24 years that our son had on earth. Many people are alive today because Michael lived, which is a blessing.”

Ollis was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor in combat. In 2019, the medal was upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross, according to a 2024 10th Mountain Division news release.

A native of New Dorp, New York, in the city’s borough of Staten Island, Michael Ollis was assigned to B Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, in the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, when the unit deployed to Afghanistan in January 2013.  

The deployment was his third, preceded by a 2008 deployment to Iraq with the 1st Armored Division out of Baumholder, Germany, and a 2010 deployment to Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, according to the news release .

On Aug. 28, 2013, Ollis and his fellow soldiers were in a building at Forward Operating Base Ghazni in eastern central Afghanistan when the base came under a complex enemy attack involving vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, suicide vests, indirect fire and small-arms fire, according to the official citation of his actions.

After directing his soldiers to move from their building to the safety of a bunker, Ollis accounted for his soldiers then returned to the building to check for casualties. He then moved toward the enemy force, which had penetrated the base’s perimeter, the citation reads.

According to the citation, Ollis located Lt. Karol Cierpica, a Polish officer and a member of the coalition forces also stationed at the base, and together they moved toward the point of attack, without body armor and armed only with rifles, the citation reads.

While under continuous small-arms, indirect and rocket-propelled grenade fires, Ollis and Cierpica reached the attack point and linked up with other friendly forces to begin a coordinated effort to repulse the enemy from the airfield and adjacent buildings. They moved under fire from position to position, engaging the enemy with accurate and effective fire, the citation reads.

During the fight, an enemy combatant gained close access and, coming around a corner, immediately began firing on Ollis and Cierpica. Ollis positioned himself between the insurgent and Cierpica, who had been wounded in both legs and was unable to walk. Ollis fired upon the enemy fighter, incapacitating him, but as he approached the wounded fighter, the fighter’s suicide vest detonated, mortally wounding Ollis, the citation reads.

In 2006 at age 17, Ollis enlisted in the Army after graduating from the Michael J. Petrides School, where he excelled in the school’s JROTC program. After infantry basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, Ollis moved through the ranks with his first two assignments in Germany and at Fort Campbell, completed Air Assault School, graduated from Ranger School and earned his Basic Parachute Badge at Airborne School, the news release says.

He was 24 years old and a newly promoted staff sergeant when he led a squad on the 2013 deployment to Afghanistan.

After his death, the SSG Michael Ollis Freedom Foundation was established, and a campaign was launched to award Ollis the Medal of Honor. In 2017, the president of Poland awarded Ollis the Star of Afghanistan and the Gold Medal of the Polish Army, the highest honor that country can give to an allied soldier.