Bush presents posthumous Medal of Honor to Catholic Navy SEAL

Published: 2008-04-09

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A tearful U.S. President George W. Bush presented the parents of Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor with a posthumous Medal of Honor for saving the lives of two Navy SEAL teammates by sacrificing his own in Ramadi, Iraq. Monsoor was 25 when a hand grenade tossed by Iraqi insurgents hit his chest and landed on the ground in front of him. Monsoor immediately threw himself on the grenade, smothering its blow. He died less than 30 minutes later. At the April 8 ceremony at the White House, Bush said this highest military medal was "awarded for an act of such courage that no one could rightly be expected to undertake it. Yet those who knew Michael Monsoor were not surprised when he did." Father Paul Halladay, former chaplain of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, was at the ceremony and knew Monsoor when he was a chaplain stationed in Ramadi. Though the circumstances in which Monsoor died were a very outward sign of his heroism, Father Halladay described Monsoor as being "very soft-spoken, low-key, unassuming."

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