Congressional Medal of Honor
The sailor pictured below is Navy Petty Officer,
(Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Second Class)
EOD2 Mike Monsoor
April 5th, 1981 ~ September 29th, 2006
Mike Monsoor, was awarded “The Congressional Medal Of Honor” last week, for giving his life in Iraq , as he jumped on, and covered with his body, a live hand grenade, that was accidentally dropped by a Navy Seal, saving the lives of a large group of Navy Seals that was passing by!
During Mike Monsoor’s funeral at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California, the six pallbearers removed the rosewood casket from the hearse and lined up on each side of Mike Monsoor’s Casket where his family members, friends, fellow sailors, and well-wishers.
The column of people continued from the hearse, all the way to the grave site. What the group didn’t know at the time was, every Navy Seal (45 to be exact) that Mike Monsoor saved that day was scattered throughout the column!
As the pallbearers carried the rosewood casket down the column of people to the grave side the column would collapse, which formed a group of people that followed behind.
Every time the rosewood casket passed a Navy Seal, he would remove his gold trident pin from his uniform and slap it down hard, embedding the gold trident into the top of the wooden casket—stepping back and saluting!
For those who don’t know what a trident pin is, here is a photo!
It was said, that you could hear each of the 45 slaps from across the cemetery! By the time the rosewood casket reached the grave site, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from the 45 trident pins that lined the top! This was a fitting end to an eternal send-off for a warrior hero!
GOD BLESS AND KEEP OUR TROOPS SAFE!
Nice piece. I don’t know if it’s been definatively established that this was from Monsoor’s funeral….who was in fact not an EOD, he was a SEAL and his source rating was Master-at-Arms, he was either a First or Second Class. The casket is definately from a SEAL funeral though. Additionally, there is really no such thing as the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is simply the Medal of Honor. It is awarded by the President, in the name of Congress. There is a seperate group called the “congressional medal of honor society”, but the award itself is simply the Medal of Honor, or MOH. I am a Navy Journalist and spent a tour at Naval Special Warfare Command so I do know what I’m talking about. You can check the Associated Press stylebook for proper attribution of Medal of Honor if you don’t believe me. Don’t mean to shred the piece, it’s good that someone is highlighting this…..but the ABC’s of journalism are Accuracy, Brevity, and Clarity. Start with the A’s.