Polish soldier names son after US saviour

A Polish soldier has named his newly-born son after an American sergeant who died in 2013 while shielding him from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Michael H. Ollis died in August 2013 during a Taliban attack on a NATO base in Ghazni, eastern Afghanistan.

Several Taliban insurgents blasted their way into the compound, and as a US report recorded, Sergeant Ollis ”stepped in front of a Polish officer as a Taliban insurgent detonated his vest.”

Lieutenant Karol Cierpica has called his son Michał (the Polish for Michael) in honour of his saviour.
Robert Ollis, father of the fallen soldier, has said he and his wife Linda are ”delighted” by the news.
”I thought of the baby as a grandson,” he told US paper the Staten Island Advance.

“We are very happy and honoured.”

A teddy bear (pictured above) knitted from Sergeant Ollis’s khakis has been given to Lieutenant Cierpica’s newly-born son by the Ollis family.

The Ollis family has already visited Poland through an invitation from the foreign ministry, and strong ties have been forged with Lieutenant Cierpica.

Sergeant Michael H. Ollis has also been posthumously honoured with the Polish Army’s Gold Medal.
Poland officially ended combat operations in Afghanistan on 31 December 2014.