STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island native and retired Army Sgt. Maj. Eric Geressy and the late Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis never met in the military. In fact, 1988, the year Ollis was born, Geressy was serving his first year in the Army.
Yet they shared many similarities: a home borough, enlisting at the age of 17, and a familial legacy of military service.
Geressy, who currently serves as the senior advisor to the U.S. secretary of war for strategy, didn’t notice these similarities when he was first reviewing Ollis’ case for the Medal of Honor. He only saw something he knew needed to be recognized and platformed — valor.
Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Eric Geressy is shown at the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone in Panmunjeom, Republic of Korea, on Nov. 3, 2025. Geressy made promoting Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis’ award a full-time duty, navigating complex military review processes to secure the recognition.Courtesy of DoW and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Madelyn Keech
“He did what he did completely voluntarily on his own,’’’ Geressy said of Olis. ”When these guys are doing stuff like this, it’s not for medals, it’s not for accolades, it’s not for any kind of personal recognition. They’re doing things because they need to be done. He saved lives, and he did that on his own, because that was the right thing to do.”
The story of Ollis being awarded the Medal of Honor, however, starts years before his file reached Geressy’s desk.
A New Dorp resident, Ollis was killed on Aug. 28, 2013, during a Taliban attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni while serving with Bushmaster Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. During the assault, Ollis placed himself between a suicide bomber and a Polish allied officer, shielding the officer from the full force of the explosion and sacrificing his own life.
Witnesses have said Ollis’ actions not only saved the life of Polish Army 2nd Lt. Karol Cierpica but also helped preserve the lives of more than 40 military and civilian personnel on the base.
In the years since his death, Ollis’ family, veterans’ organizations, elected officials and members of the Staten Island community have pushed to have the local hero recognized.
He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Audie Murphy Medallion, Polish Armed Forces Gold Medal as well as the Silver Star, which was upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross in 2019.
In July of 2022, Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat representing New York in Congress, wrote a letter to Chief of Staff of the Army General Randy A. George, urging the Army to recommend Ollis for the Medal of Honor distinction. In January 2026, Congress member Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, delivered a letter to President Donald Trump expressing her support for posthumously awarding Ollis the honor.
According to Geressy, the process of upgrading the award to the Medal of Honor was brought to his attention by author Tom Sileo, who reached out to encourage the Pentagon to reexamine the case of the Staten Island native.
Although Geressy was already familiar with Ollis through friends who served in the 10th Mountain Division, He was drawn in by the young man’s integrity, his commitment to his fellow service members, and his rare embodiment of a true warrior.
“You hear a lot about restoring the warrior ethos,” Geressy stated in an interview with the Advance/SILive.com. “What Staff Sgt. Ollis did is that. If people don’t understand what it means by warrior ethos, they just need to read his citation.”
Geressy took on the full-time task of promoting Ollis’ worthiness for the Medal of Honor.
The process of submitting nominations for high-level awards involves multiple layers of military review, which requires many investigations, interviews and reexaminations.
The review starts at the unit level before moving through various military offices, including the Army chief of staff, secretary of the Army and the chairman’s office. Pete Hegseth, the current secretary of war, was able to issue a favorable determination, but the final decision always rests with the president of the United States.
On Feb. 3, 2026, President Donald Trump approved the honor, making Ollis the third Staten Islander to receive the Medal of Honor, joining the Rev. Lt. Vincent R. Capodanno and World War II soldier Joseph F. Merrell Jr.
The complexity of the process, dozens of people involved and the limited experience among younger military personnel in awarding Medal of Honor-level awards presented challenges.
“This was our first big war since Vietnam,’’ he said. ”So there wasn’t a lot of experience awarding people that had seen this much combat.”
Geressy himself received the Distinguished Service Cross in 2025 for his own heroic actions during a six-hour ambush in Baghdad 18 years ago.
On Sept. 4, 2007, more than 100 al-Qaida fighters launched a complex assault on Combat Outpost Blackfoot. During the attack, then-1st Sgt. Geressy exposed himself to direct enemy fire to carry a wounded soldier to safety, according to the award citation.
For more than six hours, Geressy orchestrated the defense operations, while inspiring his soldiers, directing fire and calling in air support. The award citation praised his success and “calmness under fire.” This was his third tour in combat, where he continuously rose to any challenge that he faced.
Still, he accepted the prestigious award humbly, stating at the ceremony that the recognition belongs to all the troops with which he served.
This is one of the reasons Geressy is so passionate about awarding honors to service members, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice, like Ollis.
“They’ll punish in a heartbeat, but to recognize the valor, and telling the story of what our service members endured and what they did in combat for each other — they aren’t so quick to do,” he recalled. “So it’s our duty. We preach that to the units and the leaders to recognize your service members with these awards. They’re there for a reason. It tells the story. It highlights the military service. It motivates the next generation of warriors.”
He also knows how much receiving the highest military honor means to Ollis’ parents, Robert and Linda Ollis.
“It’ll never replace his memory and there will always be that seat that’s empty,” he said solemnly. “But what he did for the country, what he did for his brothers on his left and his right, they could be extremely proud of, and they don’t mourn alone. Now, we will never forget him.”