{"id":122918,"date":"2026-02-04T18:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/122918\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T18:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:50:16","slug":"incredible-stories-of-sacrifice-before-ollis-2-staten-islanders-have-received-the-medal-of-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/122918\/","title":{"rendered":"Incredible stories of sacrifice: Before Ollis, 2 Staten Islanders have received the Medal of Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 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\u2019s highest military decoration.<\/p>\n

Ollis was killed during a Taliban attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni on Aug. 28, 2013<\/a>, while serving with Bushmaster Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Witnesses have said Ollis\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

The Medal of Honor was approved Tuesday by President Donald Trump, following years of advocacy<\/a> from Ollis\u2019 family, veterans\u2019 organizations, elected officials and members of the Staten Island community.<\/p>\n

Private Joseph F. Merrell Jr., a World War II soldier, was the borough\u2019s first Medal of Honor recipient. The second Islander to be honored was Father Vincent R. Capodanno, who served in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Joseph F. Merrell Jr.\"PrivatePrivate 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)<\/p>\n

Merrell Jr., who was the first Staten Islander to <\/a>receive<\/a> the Medal of Honor,<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n

According to Jim Harkins and Cecelia N. Brunner, who co-authored \u201cImages of America \u2013 West Brighton,\u201d<\/a> Merrell\u2019s 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\u2019s bullet destroyed his rifle.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Merrell died months after graduating from Curtis High School and just weeks before Germany\u2019s surrender in May 1945.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Staten Island honors Merrell\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In 2002, his sister, Muriel Merrell Harvey, was interviewed by the Advance\/SILive.com and shared what drove his actions that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must\u2019ve gotten him angry to see other men killed around him,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cHe had written in a letter that his sergeant had been killed and a number of men around him. I think that\u2019s why he had taken the initiative that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Vincent R. Capodanno\"FatherFather 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)<\/p>\n

Capodanno was the second Staten Islander to receive the Medal of Honor. <\/p>\n

Born on Feb. 13, 1929, as the youngest of nine children,<\/a> Father Capodanno was ordained a priest on June 14, 1958. He was killed in action on Sept. 4, 1967.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Despite sustaining serious injuries, Father Capodanno, also known as \u201cthe grunt padre,\u201d spent the last moments of his life administering last rites and medical care to those around him.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In December 2025, an 8-foot-tall statue<\/a> for Rev. Vincent R. Capodanno was unveiled near the intersection of Seaview Avenue and the eponymous Father Capodanno Boulevard.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 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\u2019t ask, \u2018are they Jews or Catholics or Muslims,\u2019\u201d said District Attorney Michael E. McMahon at the unveiling two months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018they are Americans,\u2019 and he went and gave them their rights and he gave his life doing it,\u201d McMahon continued. \u201cWe enjoy the freedoms of democracy today because of those who gave that sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 New Dorp resident U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis will posthumously receive the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135,53728],"class_list":{"0":"post-122918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news","14":"tag-war-dead"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}