A soldier killed in Afghanistan is being mourned on Staten Island.
A funeral was held Saturday for Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis, who died Aug. 28 from wounds suffered in an attack in Afghanistan’s Ghazni Province.
He was 24 years old.
“It was no surprise to anyone that the little kid who played in Army fatigues . . . would put his life on the line to serve his country and to save the lives of the men with whom he served,” the Rev. Stephen Koeth, a family friend and former neighbor, said in his eulogy.
“Even as a boy, he exhibited a fearlessness and toughness well beyond his age and size,” the reverend said, according to the Staten Island Advance.
A military honor guard carried the young sergeant’s flag-draped casket into Our Lady Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church in New Dorp, the paper reported.
He was the grandson of World War II veterans and the son of a Vietnam vet. “He cared for the people overseas,” dad Robert Ollis said. “He didn’t come home mad and angry. He loved those people.”
Hundreds of people paid their respects, including many police officers and firefighters and members of Staten Island veterans’ groups.
Mayoral candidate Joe Lhota was among the mourners.
Ollis joined the Army in 2006. He served in Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan.