Hero Soldier's Parents Accept Medal of Honor

Ross McGinnis, a 19-year-old private who sacrificed his life in Iraq, was awarded the Medal of Honor today in a White House ceremony. Rather than fleeing a grenade an insurgent threw at his Humvee, McGinnis dived on it, saving four other soldiers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. His son "had no thought of medals," McGinnis' father, Tom, told the Army Times.

"Ross did what he did for his buddies,” said his mother, Romayne. “He did that all his life." McGinnis was the fourth service member to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq. "He was just a normal, ordinary boy who joined the Army,” said his father. “He was asked to do something extraordinary and he did it." (More Iraq stories.)