President Bush:
When Ross McGinnis was in kindergarten, the teacher asked him to draw a picture of what he wanted to be when he grew up. He drew a soldier. Today our nation recognizing -- recognizes him as a soldier, and more than that -- because he did far more than his duty. In the words of one of our commanding generals, "Four men are alive because this soldier embodied our Army values and gave his life."
The day will come when the mission he served has been completed and the fighting is over, and freedom and security have prevailed. America will never forget those who came forward to bear the battle. America will always honor the name of this brave soldier who gave all for his country, and was taken to rest at age 19.
No one outside this man's family can know the true weight of their loss. But in words spoken long ago, we are told how to measure the kind of devotion that Ross McGinnis showed on his last day: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
The members of PFC McGinnis's vehicle crew - whose lives he saved on December 4, 2006 in Adhamiyah, Iraq - were present at the ceremony: SFC Cedric Thomas, SSG Ian Newland, SGT Lyle Buehler, and SPC Sean Lawson. Ross was in 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (attached to 2nd BCT, 2ID).
Ross' Medal of Homor page can be found here, which includes the Citation, the President's full remarks, a video of the ceremony, and other video interviews.
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