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# Medal of Honor finally awarded
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/medal-of-honor-finally-awarded/
- Published: 2008-06-02T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:45:10.000Z
- Author: Bill Bauer
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Last Monday, Memorial Day, I wrote about Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis, a 19-year-old soldier from Knox, Penn. Pfc. McGinnis was on patrol in Baghdad, Dec. 4, 2006, when a grenade was lobbed into the Humvee where he and four other soldiers were riding. McGinnis fell on the grenade saving their lives while sacrificing his own.

As an update, McGinnis will posthumously receive America’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, at a White House ceremony today.

McGinnis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany. Promoted after his death, Spc. McGinnis will be the fifth serviceman to receive the Medal since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began five years ago. All awardees died in action.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 2, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060208.pdf?ref=smdp.com)