A Staten Island couple vacationing in Europe received the devastating news that their 24-year-old son, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis of New Dorp, was killed this week by insurgents in Afghanistan.
A grieving Robert and Linda Ollis were flying directly from overseas to Dover Air Force base in Delaware to claim their son’s body. Stunned neighbors said the couple had not yet returned home as of Friday evening. Some residents already had placed flower bouquets and other keepsakes – a baseball bat, a soccer ball, a pouch of Big League chewing gum — outside a house always known for proudly flying American flags.
“It was a shock to everyone in the neighborhood. I just feel really bad for the family,” said Tom Buonomo, 47, who has lived next door since 1999.
Sgt. Ollis died on Wednesday in Ghazni Province after insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device, small arms and indirect fire, the U.S. Department of Defense said on Friday.
Buonomo said he knew “something was up” on Wednesday evening while taking in the Ollises’ mail. Soldiers appeared, knocked at the house’s front door, and would only tell Buonomo that they needed to contact the family. Fearing the worst, he called one of Michael’s sisters to alert her that Army personnel were trying to get in touch.
“She got upset,” Buonomo recalled.
Neighbors described Ollis as a quiet and respectful young man who loved sports and followed decisively in his family’s military tradition: Both his father and grandfather are veterans.
“He always wanted to to this, always wanted to be in the army,” said Jillian McGovern, 24, a friend and neighbor since childhood. “He was a lifer. As kids we used to run around playing manhunt. He would always be in his camos. His nickname was ‘Mikey Muscles.’ “
“”He was truly a great kid, he’d do anything to help people,” said Tony Pierno, a neighbor of the Ollises for 18 years, who recalled Michael, on a rotation home from oversaes, digging out neighbors after a massive winter storm in 2011.
“When he came home he was happy as hell, but he couldn’t wait to go back,” said Pierno,.
Ollis was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y. He had been through multiple Middle East deployments, and was serving in a notoriously violent area of southeastern Afghanistan — the site of a recent spike in insurgent attacks, including suicide bombings, against forward operating bases, even as the drawdown of U.S. troops has continued.
Gov. Cuomo ordered state flags to fly at half mast on Friday for Sgt. Ollis
“Since 9/11, 92 New Yorkers who joined our military have given their lives to preserve the values and liberties that made us a target for terrorists that day,” the governor said in a statement. “Our prayers are with his grieving family and friends, and may God bless Sergeant Ollis and all those who continue to serve our nation.”
Mayor Bloomberg released a statement “mourning the loss of a New Yorker who volunteered to put himself in harm’s way to protect the freedoms we all enjoy.”