Valor Friday

Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis of Staten Island, NY was on his last day in Afghanistan. It was his third combat deployment, and he was only 24 years old. He’d enlisted seven years prior in the Army infantry, getting his parents’ permission to enlist at 17. Soon after he saw Iraq and then Afghanistan, with this August 2013 day being his last on his second tour of the landlocked country.

Ollis had been drawn to the service, in part due to his father Robert’s service. Robert is an Army Vietnam veteran wounded during Tet ’68 that received the Bronze Star Medal. He was also called to serve by the events of 9/11. On that morning, the NY native was just 12, about to turn 13 in a few days. Among the thousands dead were many cops and firefighters, lots of whom lived on Staten Island and were among the island’s 247 victims that day.

As a boy, his parents remember him as a scrawny kid that would blast around the neighborhood on his big wheel. His dad gave him a set of old fatigues, and he’d run around playing army. He was proud of his father’s service, and the service of both his grandfathers. In his teenage years he joined the Air Force JROTC program at Staten Island’s Petrides High School.

He served with the 1st Armor Division, the 101st Airborne Assault Division, and finally the 10th Mountain Division. He was a member of the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club (SAMC). The SAMC is a fraternal organization of Army NCOs. Those invited to sit before a rigorous board are selected by their NCO chain of command for their leadership qualities. It’s a high honor to be invited to join, and a privilege to pass and be accepted into the exclusive club. The SAMC motto is “You lead from the front,” an Audie Murphy quote. It’s a quote that would apply to Ollis as you’ll soon see.

Ollis wasn’t a stranger to losing friends by the time of his second trip to Afghanistan. His short life had already watched a friend get seriously injured by a bomb’s blast in Iraq, then lost six comrades to a suicide bomber on his first trip to A-Stan. So it should be no surprise that the young NCO was ready for action even as he counted the minutes until he was wheels up over Bagram and headed home.

Ollis arrived in mid-January 2013 in Afghanistan. Eight months later, on 28 August, their mission at FOB Ghazni advising the Afghan Army and Police was winding down. On his final day, Ollis and some of his mates were in the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) building. The threat level wasn’t nil, but it wasn’t high. They had their rifles with them, but no body armor or other battle rattle.

The early morning was broken by an enemy VBIED breaking through the wall of the base. Carrying 3,000 pounds of explosives, the crash and subsequent blast was immediately followed by mortar, grenade, and small arms fire from three directions. Several men in suicide vests also breached the compound. It was 0354 hours when the battle started.

Wasting not a moment, Ollis leapt into action. Armed only with his rifle and its single magazine, he went to the source of the blast to help however he could. Before doing so, he ordered his men to return to get their armor and other gear so they’d be ready for the fight.

Rushing into the action, Ollis found a wounded coalition soldier whose leg was wounded by shrapnel in the blast. The man, a Polish Army lieutenant named Karol Cierpica, was grateful for the help. Ollis gave some first aid, then dragged the wounded man to a nearby position where American Special Forces were engaging the enemy.

Allied troops had killed eight of the ten suicide vested enemy intruders. In the heat of the fighting, Lt. Cierpica’s other leg had been hit, this time by an enemy grenade from the ninth attacker, just as they arrived. Ollis turned and was giving aid to Cierpica when suddenly the tenth enemy approached from a different angle. Cierpica said he and Ollis had been fighting the enemy back to back up until he was hit again.

Ollis stood and put himself between the enemy and his wounded ally (a man he’d never even met). Engaging the enemy, Ollis killed the insurgent, but not before he detonated his suicide vest. Ollis’s quick, decisive action had saved the Polish lieutenant’s life for a second time in the span of just a couple minutes.

Despite prompt medical aid, Ollis’s final act of gallantry cost him his life. As quickly as Michael Ollis had come into Karol Cierpica’s life, he was gone just as fast. In the aftermath of the attack, in addition to Ollis, a Polish soldier lay dead, ten more Poles were wounded, and dozens of Afghan allies were also harmed.

Ollis was posthumously awarded the Silver Star just weeks after his death. The Poles hailed him as a hero. They quickly honored him with their Polish Army Medal in Gold, the highest award they can give to foreign troops. The US Army awarded Cierpica with a Bronze Star Medal for Valor.

According to the after actions report, “In emotional interviews with investigators, the Polish officer repeatedly praised Ollis and credited him with saving his life.” Robert Ollis said of his son, “His story just shows you the character of my son, who always thought of the next guy and never really about himself.”

In 2019, Ollis’s Silver Star was upgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross. Daniel Cowart, who similarly took on a suicide vest-wielding insurgent (though in Iraq), also had his Silver Star upgraded to a DSC in 2019. Similar acts of self-sacrifice have historically earned Medals of Honor. In the case of Ollis, his parents and comrades hold out hope that the Army will upgrade his award again. Most recently it looks like Sen. Schumer (D-NY) trumpeted an upgrade in 2022.

At the 2019 DSC award ceremony in Staten Island, Ollis’s dad Robert said, “Through the tears, we have to tell the story of Karol and Michael. They just locked arms and followed each other. They didn’t worry about what language or what color it was. It was two battle buddies, and that’s what Karol and Michael did. To help everyone on that FOB they possibly could.”

Among Ollis’s other awards are two Bronze Star Medals, and four Army Commendation Medals. He was a graduate of the Ranger, Airborne, and Air Assault Schools. Among other posthumous honors, a VFW has been named after him. One of the famous Staten Island Ferries has been named for him as well. The Polish town of Bydgoszcz named a school program after him, and there’s a chow hall on a Polish Army post that has his name and story on it.

On 11 January 2015, Cierpica had a son. He named him Michael. Ollis’s family sent their son’s namesake a teddy bear made out of Ollis’s ACUs. “We were quite honored. We were very happy for them, but we were also very happy that they honored Michael in such a way,” Ollis’ father Robert told Army Times after the baby’s birth.

The Ollis family have met Cierpica at least twice, and in a 2015 article on Michael Cierpica, they were trying to arrange to have their son’s Polish brother come to New York.

According to Army Times, “The first time they met, Robert Ollis said, had been particularly — and predictably — emotional and difficult. He said Cierpica was visibly nervous and unsure how the Ollis family would react at the award ceremony at the Polish consulate in New York. Michael Ollis’ parents embraced him and told him how much they respected him.”

Ollis’s mother Linda told Army Times about their kinship with Cierpica, “I think the relationship helps in a way because we know Michael isn’t forgotten. So it helps us heal, actually.”

On 4 June 2024, Tom Sileo (author of several non-fiction books on those who have served in the War on Terror) released his latest book, I Have Your Back on the life and death of Staff Sergeant Mike Ollis. Read some of Sileo’s moving words in this article he wrote about Ollis.

Category: Afghanistan, Army, Distinguished Service Cross, Historical, Valor, We Remember