The legacy of a US soldier who gave his life to save Polish comrade

A new book chronicles the early life and battlefield heroism of Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis, who gave his life to save a Polish soldier he’d just met

Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis knew from an early age he wanted to be a soldier, just like his father who had served in Vietnam.

But Ollis’ desire deepened with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City, a surrogate hometown for the Staten Island native. That calling to serve would lead Ollis into some of the most intense combat of the recent wars and an episode that would result in a Distinguished Service Cross and Poland’s highest honor for an allied soldier.

Author Tom Sileo has chronicled the exploits of various heroes of the Global War on Terrorism in five nonfiction books in a little more than a decade.

Those stories include the heroism of Medal of Honor recipient Florent Groberg, three brothers who served as a Navy SEAL, Green Beret and Marine, two U.S. Naval Academy classmates and friends killed in battle and Marine Maj. Megan McClung, the first female academy graduate to die in combat since the school’s founding.

In his recently published sixth book, “I Have Your Back,” Sileo tells Ollis’ life story, what led him to join in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and what kept him serving as headed out for a third combat deployment — one that ultimately took his life. On that tour in Afghanistan, Ollis saved the life of a Polish soldier he barely knew and became a kind of national hero in that country.

On Aug. 28, 2013, while serving with 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Ollis was at Forward Operating Base Ghazni, Afghanistan when attackers detonated a 3,000-pound car bomb before an enemy force assaulted the base.

Ollis sent his team to get their gear while he ran toward the blast site with one magazine in his rifle and no body armor. Once there he found Karol Cierpica, a lieutenant with the Polish Army. Cierpica had been wounded by shrapnel to his leg, and Ollis quickly moved him to an area with other soldiers who were returning fire. As Ollis and Cierpica reached the position, an enemy grenade landed and exploded, further wounding Cierpica. As Ollis rendered first aid, the last surviving enemy fighter rushed their position. The attacker was wearing a suicide vest.

Ollis stood up and shielded Cierpica from the blast, saving the lieutenant’s life at the cost of his own.