STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New Dorp resident U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor, becoming the third Staten Islander to receive the nation’s highest military decoration.
Ollis was killed during a Taliban attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni on Aug. 28, 2013, 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, sacrificing his own life.
Witnesses have said Ollis’ actions not only saved Polish Army 2nd Lt. Karol Cierpica, but also helped preserve the lives of more than 40 military and civilian personnel on the base.
The Medal of Honor was approved Tuesday by President Donald Trump, following years of advocacy from Ollis’ family, veterans’ organizations, elected officials and members of the Staten Island community.
Private Joseph F. Merrell Jr., a World War II soldier, was the borough’s first Medal of Honor recipient. The second Islander to be honored was Father Vincent R. Capodanno, who served in the Vietnam War.
Joseph F. Merrell Jr.
Private Joseph F. Merrell Jr. became the first Staten Islander to receive the Medal of Honor after a solo assault in Germany killed 23 enemy soldiers and saved his pinned-down unit in 1945.(Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)
Merrell Jr., who was the first Staten Islander to receive the Medal of Honor, earned the award for a solo assault on April 18, 1945, near Lohe, Germany, that killed 23 enemy soldiers and saved his pinned-down unit from destruction.
According to Jim Harkins and Cecelia N. Brunner, who co-authored “Images of America – West Brighton,” Merrell’s company in the 15th Infantry Regiment was trapped by heavy fire from two machine-gun nests when he acted on his own initiative. He charged 100 yards through enemy fire and killed four German soldiers at point-blank range before a sniper’s bullet destroyed his rifle.
The soldier, just 18 at the time, then pushed forward another 200 yards under intense fire. He used his remaining grenades to destroy the machine guns and eliminated the remaining enemy crew before he was killed.
Merrell died months after graduating from Curtis High School and just weeks before Germany’s surrender in May 1945.
Merrell posthumously received the Medal of Honor at a ceremony at Fort Wadsworth in March 1946. Initially buried in Germany, Merrell was returned to Staten Island in July 1948.
Staten Island honors Merrell’s memory through an American Legion post on Cary Avenue and a monument in Clove Lakes Park. For approximately 30 years beginning in 1951, a Staten Island Ferry boat bore his name.
In 2002, his sister, Muriel Merrell Harvey, was interviewed by the Advance/SILive.com and shared what drove his actions that day.
“It must’ve gotten him angry to see other men killed around him,” Harvey said. “He had written in a letter that his sergeant had been killed and a number of men around him. I think that’s why he had taken the initiative that day.”
Father Vincent R. Capodanno
Father Vincent R. Capodanno was killed in Vietnam while giving last rites to a Marine and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.(Staten Island Advance/Mike Falco)
Capodanno was the second Staten Islander to receive the Medal of Honor.
Born on Feb. 13, 1929, as the youngest of nine children, Father Capodanno was ordained a priest on June 14, 1958. He was killed in action on Sept. 4, 1967.
He received the award posthumously for his valor during the Vietnam War, where he served with the Marine Corps and participated in seven combat operations.
Capodanno was serving alongside the men of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines when he lost his life during a search-and-destroy mission in Operation Swift.
The unarmed chaplain was already injured, his hand nearly severed and his face wounded, when he was shot 27 times on the battlefield in Que Son Valley while running to the aid of a wounded corpsman.
Despite sustaining serious injuries, Father Capodanno, also known as “the grunt padre,” spent the last moments of his life administering last rites and medical care to those around him.
The former Seaside Boulevard was renamed Father Capodanno Boulevard in memory of the Staten Island priest on July 4, 1974. His courage and heroism on the battlefield have also led to his declaration as a Servant of God, the first step on the path that leads to sainthood.
In December 2025, an 8-foot-tall statue for Rev. Vincent R. Capodanno was unveiled near the intersection of Seaview Avenue and the eponymous Father Capodanno Boulevard.
“On September 4, 1967, when the grunt padre ran across his field, ministering to his brothers who were laying there wounded and close to death, he didn’t ask, ‘are they Jews or Catholics or Muslims,’” said District Attorney Michael E. McMahon at the unveiling two months ago.
“He said, ‘they are Americans,’ and he went and gave them their rights and he gave his life doing it,” McMahon continued. “We enjoy the freedoms of democracy today because of those who gave that sacrifice.”