{"id":122982,"date":"2026-02-04T19:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/122982\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T19:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:40:07","slug":"video-shows-emotional-moment-trump-tells-staten-island-family-their-son-will-receive-medal-of-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/122982\/","title":{"rendered":"Video shows emotional moment Trump tells Staten Island family their son will receive Medal of Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 President Donald Trump called the Ollis family Tuesday evening to inform them that U.S. Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, a Staten Island hero, will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A family video posted by the SSG Michael Ollis Freedom Foundation on Facebook<\/a> captured the moment the commander-in-chief informed the Ollis family of the approval.<\/p>\n

As the video starts, Robert Ollis, 78, can be seen holding a phone in the kitchen of his New Dorp home.<\/p>\n

Robert is informed by someone from Trump\u2019s office that the president is calling for him.<\/p>\n

Robert, who is wearing a SSG Michael Ollis Freedom Foundation sweater, thanks the representative for delivering the \u201cwonderful\u201d news of the call. After another moment, Trump\u2019s voice is heard asking for both Robert and Linda, Michael\u2019s 76-year-old mother.<\/p>\n

Both of them can be heard greeting the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very nervous,\u201d Robert replied with a laugh after the president asked how the couple was doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should be, because your son is going to get the highest honor that you can have. There is no higher honor than the Congressional Medal of Honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this news, Robert\u2019s eyes widen and he expresses a look of surprise before smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael is going to be \u2014 he\u2019s looking down at you right now, he\u2019s saying \u2018well my mom and dad are handling this pretty well,\u2019\u201d the president added.<\/p>\n

Robert and Linda thank Trump in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no idea the happiness we have,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for facilitating this, this is so wonderful of you. We are so thrilled because we\u2019ve been working on it for so long and spoke to so many people, but you made it happen,\u201d Linda told the president.<\/p>\n

Trump then asked the parents if they let people know about their \u201cboy,\u201d to which the parents confirmed that they have.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, that\u2019s good,\u201d Trump said. \u201cOtherwise how are we going to know, right? You know, people don\u2019t know. So I think that\u2019s fantastic. Well you did a good job and he did an even better job, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The president then informed the family that they will be invited to the White House for a ceremony for \u201ca few of them,\u201d described by the president as \u201call brave people.\u201d It is unclear at this time who the president was referring to.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I read what your son did and it\u2019s \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t do it, Linda, I wouldn\u2019t do it, okay?” Trump said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not brave enough either,\u201d Linda replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither am I, even though I\u2019m a Vietnam vet, I still wouldn\u2019t have done it,\u201d Robert added.<\/p>\n

Trump noted that Michael was a \u201cbeautiful looking guy\u201d and told the parents that he just read their son\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will see you at the White House soon,\u201d Trump tells the family.<\/p>\n

To this, Michael\u2019s sister, Kimberly Loschiavo, responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cYes! We\u2019re going to the White House. We love you. We\u2019re praying for you every day. Yes, let\u2019s do this. MAGA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump then encourages Robert and Linda to bring the family down and to \u201cgo celebrate\u201d before reminding them that Michael is proud of them.<\/p>\n

The call ends with Robert visibly smiling and Kimberly yelling with joy.<\/p>\n

A hero\u2019s sacrifice<\/p>\n

SSG Michael Ollis, a New Dorp resident, was killed at the age of 24 on Aug. 28, 2013, during a Taliban attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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

The push to upgrade Ollis\u2019 Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor gained renewed momentum in 2025, drawing bipartisan support from politicians<\/a> and the backing of the Richmond County American Legion<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 President Donald Trump called the Ollis family Tuesday evening to inform them that U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-122982","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"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122982","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=122982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}