AN AMERICAN HERO -- REVISITED

By Retired Sgt. Larry Kurtz

Beginning September 29, 2006 through April 8, 2008 the newspapers, television news shows, and magazines were telling the story of a United States Navy SEAL who was killed in action serving in Iraq .  The actions that this brave SEAL accomplished while under fire from the enemy resulted in him receiving the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration for bravery given by the US Military.    The media told the story of this brave American serviceman in glowing tributes to which most Americans would be proud.

That Navy SEAL that gave his life for his country and his fellow Navy SEALs and the Iraqi Army personnel he was fighting with was Master at Arms Petty Officer Second Class Michael Anthony Monsoor, age 25, who also was the cousin of Retired Detective Dave Monsoor of the Anaheim Police Department. 

I recently sat down with Retired Detective Dave Monsoor (still working as a Reserve Officer) to talk about the little details that were not told by the media.  Mike Monsoor was born on April 5, 1981 in Long Beach , California .  He grew up in Garden Grove .   Mike remembers him as a “good guy” who had a normal childhood and upbringing.  Dave remembers how he once owned a Corvette and that Mike when he was about 9-10 years old would come over and sit in the Corvette and pretend like he was driving it.  Mike later managed to buy himself his own Corvette.  When he was still a young “kid” he would always be involved in “play war games” with his friends and he was always climbing up on roofs of his own home or neighbors and taking a “strategic position” to fight off the imaginary enemy.  In high school at Garden Grove High he was about 5’10” and 160 pounds and still managed to hold down the defensive end position on the Varsity football team.    After high school in 1999 he did odd jobs like most young men do and once was a bus boy at Thee White House Restaurant in Anaheim .

Mike enlisted into the US Navy when he was 19 years old.  Very soon after his enlistment he was selected for SEAL training.  Half way through this rugged demanding training at Coronado Naval Station he was injured and had to drop out.  Undaunted, Mike reenlisted for another hitch and applied again for the SEALs.  This time he successfully completed all the initial training.  SEALs must be a jack-of-all trades and able to function in every possible weather condition.  After his initial SEAL training he was sent to Alaska where SEALs are trained in skiing and cold weather/snow survival, and to the desert for hot weather desert survival training.  It seemed he was constantly being trained in another part of the world to become the best of the best. 

The re were two incidents that Mike was involved in which shows just how this man performed under stress and enemy fire.  The first one (I don’t believe the media covered this) was in Iraq in May 2006.  His team (SEAL Team #3) was engaged in a running street battle with insurgents in the city of Ramadi , Iraq .  One SEAL Team member was shot and lay wounded in the middle of the street.  Mike managed to get to him while firing back at the enemy with his automatic weapon and pull the wounded SEAL to safety.  The rescued SEAL survived.  Mike received a Purple Heart for being wounded himself and the Silver Star which is the third highest medal given by the US Military.  A requirement to receive the Silver Star is “Gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States .”  An interesting side note is that the SEAL that Mike saved later went to a tattoo artist and had a full picture of Mike Monsoor tattooed on his left side from his armpit to his waist.  The tattoo showed Mike with angel wings pulling him to safety.  The SEAL said that as he lay wounded in the street and he looked up he saw Mike fighting his way forward to him it looked to him like he had angel wings coming off his shoulders.   Following this incident Mike was redeployed to the United States for some R & R and to heal himself.

In August 2006 Mike went back to Iraq .  On September 29, 2006 he was involved in a major battle with insurgents again in the town of Ramadi , Iraq .   His SEAL team was assisting Iraq Army soldiers.  The SEAL Team had managed to make it to a rooftop and had deployed counter snipers who were shooting at them.  Mike was in a stairwell when a hand grenade was lobbed by the enemy and actually struck Mike in the chest and then fell to the floor.  Mike yelled “grenade” and then had to make a split second decision that would ultimately affect himself and all his SEAL team and the allied soldiers.

He could have gone out a doorway and survived the grenade blast or he could have tried to pick up the grenade and throw it away.  He chose the third choice ----- he dived upon the grenade and absorbed the majority of the blast.  It is estimated that he saved at least 8 other men in the immediate area.  Many others were wounded, but none died from their wounds—except Petty Officer Mike Monsoor.  He succumbed to his battle wounds approximately one-half hour later.  At the time of his death he was part of Task Unit Ramadi, an Automatic Weapons gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Mike’s body was returned to the United States .  He was also awarded the Bronze Star for actions in Iraq .   Dave Monsoor recalls the military funeral at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego .  He said that one of the most moving things he has ever seen was when almost 100 active duty SEALs of all ranks stepped forward at the end of the funeral service.  SEALs wear a metal “Trident” on their dress uniforms which is the crest of the Navy SEALs.  It is similar in size to a police badge.  Each SEAL stepped forward and removed their Trident (it has metal pointed pins on the back of it) and each man would pound his Trident into the top of the casket with his bare hand and step aside.  When they finished   he said the top of the casket was almost totally covered with the Tridents hammered into it.  Later, President George W. Bush said, “ The procession went nearly half an hour.  When it was all over the simple wooden coffin had become a gold plated memorial to a hero who will never be forgotten.”

We all know how slow the government moves and especially those of us that have been in the service know this very well.  Mike was killed in action on September 29, 2006 and talk began through military channels that his actions were being considered for the Medal of Honor- the highest award of bravery given to a US military person.  Quoting from military regulations the recipient, “distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States .” Finally the word came from Washington , D.C that this coveted decoration would be given.  On April 8, 2008 Mike’s parents and very immediate family traveled to Washington , D.C and he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.  President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor to the parents.   The Anaheim Police Department, by order of Chief Welter, furnished a police escort for the Monsoor family as they traveled from Orange County to Los Angeles Airport for the first leg of their journey. 

Petty Officer Mike Monsoor’s name is on a plaque in the Pentagon called appropriately,  The Hall of Heroes, and at Coronado Naval Station SEAL Headquarters is a glass display case containing his final gear of boots, uniform and weapon.  Another interesting note is that a number of SEALs from Mike’s Team #3 that were due to end their enlistment reenlisted for another tour of duty in memory of him.  The US Navy recently announced that it will name a Zumwalt Class destroyer which is used for air and sub surface warfare after Mike.  It will be commissioned in 2015 as the “USS Michael Monsoor.” 

The sympathies of the entire Anaheim Police Department go out to the family of Petty Officer Mike Monsoor.   He served his country well.