Press Releases

Following a joint declaration by the President Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda to increase the number of American service members in Poland, Congressman Max Rose is calling for any planned based to be named after Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis of Staten Island who saved the life of a Polish solder while serving in Afghanistan.

“Michael Ollis is an American hero,” said Rose, an Army combat veteran. “He represents the best our Island and our country has to offer and I truly believe there’s no better person to name an American military base in Poland after than him.”

Ollis was serving in the 10^th Mountain Division’s B Company, 2^nd Battalion, 22^nd Infantry Regiment in Ghazni, Afghanistan when enemy insurgents attacked. During the attack, Ollis selflessly positioned himself between a suicide vest-wearing enemy combatant and a Polish officer he was fighting alongside. Ollis’ selfless heroism cost his own life, but saved that of Polish Second Lieutenant Karol Cirpica who said, “If Michael Ollis had not joined me, it would have been a Polish flag draped over a coffin, not an American one.”

In a letters to Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Polish Ambassador Piotr Wilczek, Rose wrote, “In their joint declaration, Presidents Trump and Duda agreed to increase the U.S. troop presence in Poland by 1,000 service members, with the Polish government bearing the expense of basing this contingent on Polish soil. It is only fitting that an American base aimed at protecting Polish territory be named after an American hero who lost his life protecting Polish soldiers.”

Earlier this month, Rose participated in a ceremony on Staten Island in which Ollis was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest military honor that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army. Ollis has also been awarded the Purple Heart, the Silver star, the Audie Murphy Medallion, and the Polish Armed Forces Gold Medal—the highest honor the Polish government bestows upon a foreign soldier.

Full text of letter to Acting Secretary Esper HERE and to Ambassador Wilczek HERE.

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