[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 93 (Friday, June 6, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5352-S5353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


                      SPECIALIST Ross A. McGinnis

  Mr. CASEY. Finally, I want to speak for a couple of moments about a 
Pennsylvanian. As I have mentioned before, there are more World War II 
Medal of Honor winners from Pennsylvania than anywhere else. We did 
some research, and you can go down the list of people who have served 
from Pennsylvania, who have been awarded the Congressional Medal of 
Honor, and we note that 378 Pennsylvanians have received the Medal of 
Honor out of about 3,467 overall, so a high percentage.
  We had 25 Medal of Honor winners from World War II and in Operation 
Iraqi Freedom; one is the person I want to spend a couple of moments 
talking about. Operation Iraqi Freedom has only four, I am told, four 
Medal of Honor winners across the Nation, so Pennsylvania has one of 
those four, and his name is Specialist Ross A. McGinnis, 1st Platoon, C 
Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat 
Team, 1st Infantry Division.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
a two-page document entitled, ``The Story of PFC Ross A. McGinnis,'' as 
well as a news story from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette from this week.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I will not read all of it, but I wanted to 
read the description of his sacrifice and the reason he was awarded the 
Congressional Medal of Honor, so rare for any soldier to be so awarded. 
Here is part of the official report. This is December 4, 2006.

       During the course of the patrol, an unidentified insurgent 
     positioned on a rooftop nearby threw a fragmentation grenade 
     into the Humvee. Without hesitation or regard for his own 
     life, McGinnis threw his back over the grenade, pinning it 
     between his body and the Humvee's radio mount. McGinnis 
     absorbed all lethal fragments and the concussive effects of 
     the grenade with his own body. McGinnis, who was a private 
     first class at the time, was posthumously promoted to 
     specialist. Specialist McGinnis's heroic actions and tragic 
     death are detailed in the battlescape section of this website 
     and in his Medal of Honor Citation.

  He was a young man from Knox, PA, 19 years old, when he gave, as 
Abraham Lincoln also said, ``The last full measure of devotion to his 
country.'' And I have used that line a lot because it applies so well 
to those who have given their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan and other 
places around the world, but at no time--at no time--that I have used 
that line from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has it applied 
better than it does in this instance, for Ross. A McGinnis, 19 years 
old, born June 14, 1987, in Meadville, PA, though he grew up in Knox, 
PA. He was a 2005 graduate of Keystone Junior-Senior High School, and 
his parents were with President Bush this week when he was awarded the 
Congressional Medal of Honor.
  So we are thinking of him today, on D-day, but we should make sure 
those memories we have of his service, and all those who have served in 
any conflict, be the inspiration for our hard work in the Senate, to 
make sure we are doing everything we can to earn the valor they gave so 
heroically for our country. And that has to be about making sure our 
troops are given what they need when they are on the battlefield, but 
also ensuring that when they come home, the help doesn't stop at the 
shoreline; that they are given the best health care and the best 
educational opportunities.
  So, Mr. President, I will conclude with this: We pay tribute to those 
who have served our country, especially today, in remembering those who 
served on D-day, but in a special way we are thinking of Ross A. 
McGinnis, his service, his sacrifice, and we are praying for his 
family.

                               Exhibit 1

                   The Story of PFC Ross A. McGinnis


  1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd 
               Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

       Spc. McGinnis' dedication to duty and love for his fellow 
     Soldiers were embodied in a statement issued by his parents 
     shortly after his death:
       ``Ross did not become our hero by dying to save his fellow 
     Soldiers from a grenade. He was a hero to us long before he 
     died, because he was willing to risk his life to protect the 
     ideals of freedom and justice that America represents. He has 
     been recommended for the Medal of Honor . . . That is not why 
     he gave his life. The lives of four men who were his Army 
     brothers outweighed the value of his one life. It was just a 
     matter of simple kindergarten arithmetic. Four means more 
     than one. It didn't matter to Ross that he could have escaped 
     the situation without a scratch. Nobody would have questioned 
     such a reflex reaction. What mattered to him were the four 
     men placed in his care on a moment's notice. One moment he 
     was responsible for defending the rear of a convoy from enemy 
     fire; the next moment he held the lives of four of his 
     friends in his hands. The choice for Ross was simple, but 
     simple does not mean easy. His straightforward answer to a 
     simple but difficult choice should stand as a shining example 
     for the rest of us. We all face simple choices, but how often 
     do we choose to make a sacrifice to get the right answer? The 
     right choice sometimes requires honor.''
       Ross Andrew McGinnis was born June 14, 1987 in Meadville, 
     PA. His family moved to Knox, northeast of Pittsburgh, when 
     he was three. There he attended Clarion County public 
     schools, and was a member of the Boy Scouts as a boy. Growing 
     up he played basketball and soccer through the YMCA, and 
     Little League baseball. Ross was a member of St. Paul's 
     Lutheran Church in Knox, and a 2005 graduate of Keystone 
     Junior-Senior High School.
       Ross's interests included video games and mountain biking. 
     He was also a car enthusiast, and took classes at the Clarion 
     County Career Center in automotive technology. He also worked 
     part-time at McDonald's after school.
       His mother, Romayne, said Ross wanted to be a Soldier early 
     in life. When asked to draw a picture of what he wanted to be 
     when he grew up, Ross McGinnis, the kindergartner, drew a 
     picture of a Soldier.
       On his 17th birthday, June 14, 2004, Ross went to the Army 
     recruiting station and joined through the delayed entry 
     program.
       After initial entry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, 
     McGinnis was assigned to 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry 
     Regiment in Schweinfurt, Germany. According to fellow 
     Soldiers, he loved Soldiering and took his job seriously, but 
     he also loved to make people laugh. One fellow Soldier 
     commented that every time McGinnis left a room, he left the 
     Soldiers in it laughing.
       The unit deployed to Eastern Baghdad in August 2006, where 
     sectarian violence was rampant. Ross was serving as an M2 .50 
     caliber machine gunner in 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st 
     Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment in support of operations 
     against insurgents in Adhamiyah, Iraq.
       According to the official report, on the afternoon of Dec. 
     4, 2006, McGinnis' platoon was on mounted patrol in Adhamiyah 
     to restrict enemy movement and quell sectarian violence. 
     During the course of the patrol, an unidentified insurgent 
     positioned on a rooftop nearby threw a fragmentation grenade 
     into the Humvee. Without hesitation or regard for his own 
     life, McGinnis threw his back over the grenade, pinning it 
     between his body and the Humvee's radio mount. McGinnis 
     absorbed all lethal fragments and the concussive effects of 
     the grenade with his own body. McGinnis, who was a private 
     first class at the time, was posthumously promoted to 
     specialist. Spc. McGinnis's heroic actions and tragic death 
     are detailed in the battlescape section of this website and 
     in his Medal of Honor Citation.
       Army Decorations: Medal of Honor (to be presented to Tom 
     and Romayne McGinnis at a June 2, 2008 White House Ceremony), 
     Silver Star (awarded for valor exhibited during the events of 
     Dec. 4, 2006, pending processing and approval of Medal of 
     Honor), Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, 
     National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global 
     War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas 
     Service Ribbon, and Combat Infantryman Badge.
                                  ____


                   [From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

                          (By Milan Simonich)

              Medal of Honor Presented to Family of a Hero

       Washington.--President Bush yesterday awarded the Medal of 
     Honor to a fallen Clarion County soldier, calling him an 
     ordinary guy who did the extraordinary to save the lives of 
     four buddies in Iraq.
       Spc. Ross McGinnis used his body to cover a grenade that an 
     insurgent threw from a rooftop into an Army Humvee. By 
     turning himself into a human shield, he gave his life to 
     protect the other men in his crew.
       Mr. Bush presented the Medal of Honor, America's highest 
     military decoration, to Tom and Romayne McGinnis, parents of 
     the 19-year-old soldier. About 300 people--including the four 
     soldiers who survived the grenade blast--attended the 
     ceremony in the East Room of the White House. It ended with 
     everybody standing and applauding for Spc. McGinnis.

[[Page S5353]]

       By then, Mrs. McGinnis was fighting back tears. Mr. Bush 
     turned and kissed her on the cheek, causing her to smile. 
     Then he escorted her from the room.
       Afterward, Mrs. McGinnis said the president had told her he 
     might cry if she did.
       Tom McGinnis said his son, a restless and below-average 
     student until his senior year of high school in Knox, would 
     have savored this day of acclamation had he lived to see it.
       ``He'd have had a great time. He'd have enjoyed the 
     spotlight,'' Mr. McGinnis said.
       In an earlier interview, he said he is certain his son 
     never thought of medals or glory. Friendships and 
     relationships were all that motivated his son, Mr. McGinnis 
     said.
       Sgt. Ian Newland, the only soldier to be seriously injured 
     in the explosion, walks with a cane now. At 28, he said his 
     goal is to run again, though doctors tell him he won't. He 
     wants to accomplish all he can each day--his only way of 
     repaying Spc. McGinnis.
       In a news conference after the ceremony, Sgt. Newland said 
     each moment of the grenade explosion is burned into his 
     memory. Even so, he said, it took a few days of reflection 
     for him to fully grasp the magnitude of Spc. McGinnis' 
     sacrifice.
       The crew was rolling through a Baghdad neighborhood the 
     morning of Dec. 4, 2006. Spc. McGinnis rode atop the Humvee 
     in a hatch, manning a .50-caliber machine gun.
       A man on a roof threw a grenade that dropped straight 
     through the hatch and into the Humvee, where the other four 
     soldiers essentially were trapped.
       Spc. McGinnis could have dived onto the street to safety. 
     Instead, he jumped back inside the Humvee and pinned the 
     grenade between his back and the vehicle.
       It exploded a second or two later, piercing Spc. McGinnis' 
     body armor and blowing the doors off the Humvee. Shrapnel 
     tore into Sgt. Newland's head and all four limbs.
       As he looks back on that day, Sgt. Newland said he focuses 
     on two things: ``The pain. The grief.''
       The other three soldiers--Sgt. 1st Class Cedric Thomas, 
     Sgt. Lyle Buehler and Spc. Sean Lawson--were not hurt 
     physically. Sgt. Buehler said survivor's guilt weighs on him. 
     Had the grenade rolled in front of him, he would have been in 
     the position to cover it. As it happened, only Spc. McGinnis 
     knew where the grenade was.
       The others say Spc. McGinnis took little seriously except 
     soldiering.
       ``The first time I met him, he had me laughing,'' Spc. 
     Lawson said.
       In his combat team in the 1 st Battalion, 26 Infantry 
     Regiment, Spc. McGinnis developed a reputation for doing 
     impressions, the soldiers said. So spot-on were his 
     imitations that a drill instructor even laughed when he was 
     the object of one of them.
       The youngest man in his unit, Spc. McGinnis looked out for 
     his crew as though they were brothers. Sgt. Thomas offers the 
     most succinct description of the 6-foot, 136-pound beanpole, 
     saying: ``He is a hero.''
       Mr. McGinnis said his son knew that four lives were more 
     valuable than one, so he instinctively reacted to save the 
     others.
       He remembers his son as an ordinary kid who made plenty of 
     mistakes, then got interested in military service and 
     fulfilled his potential in the Army.
       ``It wasn't an exciting story until right to the end,'' Mr. 
     McGinnis said.

  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alabama.

                          ____________________