Latest / The Whitfield Report / TWR Monday | Memorial Day: The Story of PFC Ross A. McGinnis

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TWR Monday | Memorial Day: The Story of PFC Ross A. McGinnis · The Whitfield Report

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The right to offend is not some pesky little part of freedom of
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speech that we have to put up with.
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It is the heart and soul and lungs of freedom of speech.
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It is the coursing lifeblood of human protests.
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It is the instigator of liberty and modernity and science and
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understanding. What a laughingstock today's
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student leaders are that they can so casually dismiss the
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right to be offensive without realizing that their lovely,
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enlightened lives are the gifts of individuals who gave offence.
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Offensiveness is not just something we have to
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begrudgingly accept. Offensiveness is the motor of
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human progress. Now broadcasting from the Right
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to Offend media studios in sunny South Florida, bringing you the
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latest in politics, current events, art and pop culture.
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This is the Whitfield Report live with Sam Whitfield.
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But giving offense is good. In fact, it's essential.
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Well, hello there, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to
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today's Monday edition of the Whitfield Report.
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I am your host, Sam Field, live here from sunny South Florida.
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And I apologize for the glitch there.
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For some reason, I just tried to start the stream, you know, a
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few minutes ago and rumble, for whatever reason, it said that
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there was an error starting the stream.
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So so I had to start a new stream, which is why this is
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called take two. But nevertheless happy to be
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here. And you know, I, I know people
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say Happy Memorial Day, but it never really like that feels
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wrong say happy Memorial Day because it's not really like a
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happy day at all. In fact, it's quite somber in a
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sense. Although I, I suppose, you know,
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it is a somber holiday, it's not a happy one.
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And yet we do celebrate and remember those who, in my
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opinion, are the best of us, those brave men and women who
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not only put on the uniform to defend America and answer the
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Call of Duty, but also gave all in pursuit of that duty.
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And I know on the show, you know, Max and I and others often
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talk about whether or not the wars and conflicts and that our
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men and women go off to fight, are, you know, just fight or or
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morally worth it, you know, as do many others.
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And, you know, on political shows and what not, we can
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debate policy and, you know, the morals and ethics of warfare and
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we can have debates about that all we want.
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And there is a time and place for that, no doubt.
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But one thing that is not negotiable, in my opinion, is
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the morality of the men and women who voluntarily, you know,
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choose to take up arms in, you know, defense of our nation.
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Even if they might not agree with the conflicts that they're,
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you know, going off to fight. It still is very admirable that,
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you know, all of our men and women, you know, who decide to
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enlist in the military do so. And I have many family members
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and friends, you know, who I know, who have done just that.
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And, you know, I also know many, you know, men and women.
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And when I say many, I don't mean, like a ton.
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But I do know a few, you know, veterans who unfortunately were
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wounded in combat. One of them is a gentleman by
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the name of Staff Sergeant Ian Newland, who those of you who
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are long time Whitfield report listeners going back to the
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Whitfield analysis days will remember that I had Staff
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Sergeant Newland on back in like 2011, I think it was a long time
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ago. And he talked out his experience
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of being wounded in Afghanistan. And those of you who are, you
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know, familiar with the lore of the whistled war may know that I
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had a service dog at one point named Clark.
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And, you know, as I grew older and stronger, I no longer needed
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Clark, you know, as a service dog.
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So basically I, I had to give Clark up, which was a very
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difficult thing for me to do as a, you know, teenager at the
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time, because I loved that dog, you know, just about as much as
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anything, as anything in my life.
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But I, but I was given the option of, you know, where I
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could give him his next home. And I had, you know, decide if I
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had to give him up, I wanted to place him with a wounded
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veteran. And that veteran ended up being
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staff Sergeant in Newland who was wounded in Afghanistan.
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And who was one of the men who served with Ross McGinnis, who
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I'm going to be discussing today.
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And Ross McGinnis is a Medal Honor recipient who gave all for
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his nation and who, I guess, has since become one of the
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posthumous Medal of Honor recipients in the Iraq and
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Afghanistan conflict. And when I say posthumous, I
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mean clearly all about our men and women who gave all our
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posthumous. But the reason why I decided to
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bring up Ross McGuinness is I saw recently that he's actually
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been featured in a couple of like history textbooks regarding
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the, the Iraq in Afghanistan war.
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So he's now now been mentioned, you know, by name in the annals
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of history, which I think is, you know, it's, it's, it's very,
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I, I don't want to say it's cool because, you know, obviously
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it's a tragedy that he has passed.
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But I, I do find it interesting that I am, you know, very
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tangentially connected to someone who has made it into a,
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you know, a history textbook. I mean, if it is recent history,
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and I know that because a listener of mine actually DM Ed
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me recently in a long time listener and said, you know, I
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guess their kid or whatever brought home a textbook and
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mentioned that Ross McGuinness was in their kids history
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textbook. So I found that very
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interesting. But, you know, there are many
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veterans who I could have, there are many veterans who gave all,
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you know, many men and women who I could have chosen to feature.
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But I, I figure since we talked about Iraq and Afghanistan a lot
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in this on this program, and since Max has mentioned a few of
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his friends who gave all, I figured I would share with you,
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you know, someone I was tangentially connected with.
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So, as I mentioned, Ross McGinnis, you know, there's a
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lot of so there's actually a fair bit of history that I
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could, you know, read up, read to you guys on and I will, But
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I've I just wanted to kind of start off with this video that
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talks a little bit about private first class McGinnis.
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And this was this video I'm going to play is from a.
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Let's see here, it's the American Veterans Conference in
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this video is from 2008, so it's actually quite a while back.
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But one of the other veterans he served with not set staff, sort
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of Newland, who I know, but one of the other gentleman who I
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actually have met spoke about Ross McGinnis as a person and
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talked a bit about his sacrifice as well and what he meant.
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So I, I found this video to be very fitting and I want to play
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this for you now. It's it's really short, only
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about 7 minutes long, but it's well worth playing.
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So here it is, take #1 go. So on 1st Class Thomas, I'll be
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talking about specialist Ross McGinnis.
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Ross McGinnis from a small town in Pennsylvania, 19 years old
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all right enlisted in the Army 18 right out of high school,
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attended basic training Fort Benning, GA as 11B ampereman
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After completing basic training, he was on his way to
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schweinford, Germany. Charlie Company 126 Blue
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Spaders, me myself. I just completed a three-year
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tour of Drill Sardini and just looking forward to lining up my
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Humvee crew, getting to the company with Ross and meeting
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the the outgoing platoon Sergeant.
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I walk past the arms room and Ross McGinnis comes out.
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Ross is 6 foot tall, about £150. I don't know if that's with his
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gear on or off, but he's 150 lbs.
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Ross comes out and he's covered in carbon from cleaning his 50
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Cal. So I walk up and I meet Ross and
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Ross is a big jokester. He's funny.
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He cracks jokes all the time. And Ross comes out.
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I meet Ross and I shake his hand, you know, he starts
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laughing and I look down and my hand is covered in this carbon,
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you know, and he starts laughing, you know, and it, it's
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a good joke, but his attitude, you know, and his sense of humor
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was a, a big attraction for me. After that, we went to
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Grafenveer in Hornfeld, Germany for training CMTC for about 45
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days. Ross was the gunner from my
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Humvee crew training in Grafavir.
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Ross had no problem knocking down targets, doing his thing.
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We trained hard, very hard in the snow in in December in
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Germany. If anybody's ever been there, we
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deployed to Baghdad, northeast Baghdad.
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Give you a rundown of our sector.
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Our sector was the last place that Saddam Hussein gave his
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speech at the Abu Hanifa mosque. This was the last place that,
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you know, anyone had seen Saddam Hussein.
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This is also the red light district of Baghdad.
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So you see what we're up against.
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Thugs, drug dealers, gangsters, gang bangers and foreign
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fighters. But to cut to the chase, I'll
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share the story with you on that day.
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We just finished our last three hour patrol.
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We do 3/3 hour patrols every day.
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We just finished our last one. It was just right before sunset.
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The company commander runs out. Sorry Thomas say you guys are
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still fresh. You just came back from your
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your last three hour patrol. We need to go look at a
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generator for this neighborhood. So I said all right Sir, got my
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platoon together, 6 vehicle patrol.
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We roll out the gate approximately 1000 meters from
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our combat outpost. We turned into the neighborhood.
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My vehicle was the last vehicle in the patrol.
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That was the 6th vehicle. I have the 6:00 for the platoon.
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We turned into the neighborhood and the buildings for this, the
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street, were on approximately two or three stories high.
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We turned, and as soon as we made the turn, you hear Ross
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stood up and grabbed his 50 Cal. I didn't pay any attention.
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But then you hear a tink from a radio mount, you know?
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And Ross said, oh, oh, shit. I said what?
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He said grenade. I said what he said, yeah, it's
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in the truck. So at that time, you go into a
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protective posture. It was probably about one to two
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seconds of reaction time for anyone to get out.
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I had a full vehicle that day. So there was five of us total in
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this Humvee. Ross stood up as if he was
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swatting the grenade away. In this vehicle we wore headsets
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so everyone knew what was going on, what each person was doing
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to the vehicle. My medic sat behind me.
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Ross was on the 50 Cal had a driver and a dismount.
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Ross leans on this grenade, puts his back up against the grenade,
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and the grenade detonated, saving the lives of the other
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members in the vehicle. After the grenade detonated, at
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that time I didn't know that Ross, you know, was Kia.
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So we got out. I got out of the vehicle.
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The rest of the patrol kept moving.
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They didn't know. They thought it was a normal
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day. We were shot at every day.
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We had hand grenades thrown at us every day.
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So I got out and started to engage the enemy and advance an
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enemy. The patrol stopped, came back as
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I was engaged in the enemy and and helped in the situation.
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Once we got loaded back up and got to the aid station, that's
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when I knew that Ross had passed away, saving the lives of four
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of the soldiers, and I wouldn't be here today.
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So that's that's just a quick video kind of on the situation
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set. Sergeant First Class Cedric,
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Cedric Thomas, I have met him before, although it's been a
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number of years since we've spoken in.
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This video is from 2008, so at the time this speech was again,
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it was only two years after Mcginnis's sacrifice.
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But I actually want to read for you guys Ross Mcginnis's
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Wikipedia page, which I did check, and it is pretty accurate
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for the most part from what I've been told.
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So yeah, I figured I'll go through this and what not.
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The the other thing thing too, before I want to, you know,
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interject is there is footage online that you can find of of
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Ross McGinnis, but you know, it's from this is like early to
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mid 2000s. So, you know, people didn't
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really have smartphones weren't even like a thing yet people
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still use like digital handheld camcorders.
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And, you know, back then, like it, you know, in the Middle East
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too, like camcorders were just kind of becoming a thing here.
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And so, you know, like I, I know that like, you know, soldiers
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and you know, personnel, they, they would, some of them would
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get like camcorders shipped, you know, to them as part of like
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care packages. So there are a few videos of,
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you know, Ross McGinnis out there, but they're, you know,
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like 240 P quality YouTube wasn't really a thing back when
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Ross McGinnis was alive, you know, rose until after his death
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when some footage started to come out.
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And I did find a few clips of him that I'll play for you guys
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here in a bit. But I, I do want to read his
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full Wikipedia page because I do think it's, you know, worth kind
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of diving into this young man's, you know, life story because it
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is pretty amazing. So this is from Wikipedia.
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And let me just make sure. OK.
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Yep. It's it appeared properly.
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So yeah. Cool.
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Ross. Andrew McGinnis was born on June
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14th, 1987 and he died on December 4th, 2006.
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So Ross Andrew McGinnis was a United States Army soldier who
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was possibly awarded the United States highest decoration or
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bravery, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the Iraq War.
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While serving as a gunner in a Humvee, his convoy was attacked
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in a hand grenade was thrown into his vehicle.
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McGinnis was killed in action when he deliberately threw
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himself on the grenade, saving the lives of at least four other
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soldiers in the vehicle. He was the 4th service member to
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receive the Medal of Honor during the Iraq War, which was
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presented to his family following his death.
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You know, so that's kind just a summary.
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Early life in education. McGinnis was born in Meadville,
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PA on June 14th, 1987 to Romain and Tom McGinnis.
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I boyed his father, by the way, passed away a few years ago.
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But I don't know that for CERN. If so, my, my condolences to his
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family. And, you know, hopefully father
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and son are reunited. But anyway, he was born to
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Romain and Tom McGinnis and grew up in Knox, 90 miles north of
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Pittsburgh, after his family moved there when he was 3.
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When he was in kindergarten, his teacher gave him a paper that at
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the top said when I grow up I want to be a blank, and he wrote
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an Army man. When he was growing up, he
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became involved in the Boy Scouts America, involved working
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in Car Ours and was an athlete playing multiple sports.
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He played basketball and soccer through the YMCA and the Little
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League baseball. He attended Clarion County
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public schools and graduated from Keystone Junior and Senior
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High School in 2005. He had two sisters, Becky and
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Katie. Yeah, military career McGinnis
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had wanted to be a soldier since kindergarten and joined the
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United States Army through the delayed Entry program on his
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17th birthday on June 14th, 2004.
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Following basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was
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assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26 Infantry Regiment in the the
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Ledward Barracks in Schweinfurt, Germany in August 2006 at age
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19. Age 19, the regiment was
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deployed to eastern Baghdad and he was serving as a 50 caliber
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machine gunner in a Humvee up during operations against
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insurgents in Ed Hymia. I think as I pronounced that on
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December 4th, while he was platoon was mounted, was on
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mounted patrol in the region, a grenade was thrown into the
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vehicle. He shouted a warning to the four
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other men in the vehicle so they that they could prepare for the
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blast. When one of the men responded,
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they could not see where the device had landed.
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Instead of jumping out of the gunner's hatch, McGuinness
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really back on the grenade, absorbing the bulk of the blast.
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He was killed instantly, but the other occupants suffered only
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minor injuries. Which is untrue because you
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know, my Ian, who I mentioned earlier, actually suffered the
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brunt of the shrapnel damage to the point where it where Ian's
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nervous system was basically what was damaged to the point
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where because of the shrapnel, his, his brain would basically
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short circuit. And even though he could, even
28:28
though he could walk, his brain would just short circuit and he
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would fall over. And so that that had kept
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happening, hence why he was looking for a service dog.
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And that's how my old service dog Clark ended up in his, you
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know, and in his ownership until Cork passed in 2015.
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So, you know, that's kind of the story there.
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Getting back to Ross's story, though McGinnis is buried at
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Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, since the beginning of
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of the Iraq War, he is He is one of five known United States
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service members who have thrown themselves on a live grenade.
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The other personnel known to have done this are Marine
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Corporal Jason Dunham, Navy SEAL Petty Officer First, Navy SEAL
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Petty Officer Second Last Michael A Mansur, Marine Corp
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Corporal Kyle Carpenter and and Marine Sergeant Raphael Peretta.
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McGuinness was the 4th recently of the Medal Honor in the course
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of the Iraq War. So unfortunately, you know, he
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was one of the early he was, you know, effectively one of the
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earliest couch please of the war.
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And also, it's worth pointing out, ladies and gentlemen, that
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from my understanding, McGinnis had been initially trained the
30:44
if if there was a grenade that was thrown into the Humvee, the
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the standard protocol would have been for McGinnis to bail out
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and try and save himself. That's actually what he would
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have been, you know, command trained to do.
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But at 19, he was, you know, selfless and chose to jump on
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the grenade, knowing full well probably that he would not
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survive. And that's that's very you know,
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I have I have no words quite honestly to Roy put into I
31:56
really have no words to express just how well, there's no other
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word other than heroic. His actions were in indeed.
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That young man has a very special place in heaven, I'm
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sure. A ceremony was held in the East
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Room in the White House on June 2nd, 2008, in which the medal
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was presented to his family by President George W Bush.
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In addition to his family and the President, many other
32:39
notable people attended the ceremony, including the Vice
32:43
President, Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peak, Secretary of
32:49
the Army Pete Gran, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Nguyen,
32:57
General Jim Cartwright and Vice Chairman and the Vice Chairman
33:03
of the Joint Chiefs. Several members of Congress also
33:07
attended as to members of Mcguinness's unit from Iraq,
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including the other soldiers from the vehicle he sacrificed
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his life to save. So, yeah.
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And then it goes into his all his decorations and awards.
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And there you can kind of see those on screen.
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And there's the chart of all the awards right there.
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There's a picture of President Bush with Mcginnis's parents
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being presented the award. I'm not sure how well you guys
34:14
can see that. So there you have it.
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So yeah. And so I have this other video.
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It's a real short 1 of Staff Sergeant new one who I mentioned
34:53
talking about Ross McGinnis and I've I've shared this before on
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social media on Memorial Day, but I figured it would be good
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to share again. So let me switch the tab here
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and full screen make sure everything is good on rumble.
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And yeah, and this is actually from like 2007 I believe.
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So again, pretty soon after Mcginnis's sacrifice.
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So let me go ahead and play this for you all.
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Cut #1 go. Pfc McGinnis I'm the Co maker of
36:03
this film. It held the day.
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We've been in Iraq for about 3-3 months, three good months.
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We've seen quite a bit of action already.
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We don't need to see much more. It said time heals all wounds,
36:18
but for Ian Newland, time plays over again and again.
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I remember it every day, you know, I live with that.
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I see it every day. He was facing me when it
36:29
detonated. So I'm, you know, I've got a, a
36:36
good year of, of memories of him and, and all of his life and how
36:40
full of life he was and him playing with my kids and, and I
36:45
also have a memory of, of how gruesome combat can be.
36:54
Ross McGinnis absorbed the brunt of the grenade.
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Still, Newland's body was riddled with shrapnel.
37:01
Many surgeries later, he still has 50 plus pieces of metal
37:05
under his skin. You know, by all means I should
37:07
have died that day, that many other days.
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But that day was more certain than the rest.
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My kids would have been like so many others growing up without
37:18
their father and who died in Iraq or in Afghanistan.
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My wife would have became a widow.
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It's true, Newland says after a near death experience, the grass
37:27
looks greener, things smell better and the little moments
37:32
their worth is measurable. Meet Hailey, Newland's little
37:36
Princess. Well, she plays with me a lot
37:39
and when my and when my mom's gone and if she's downstairs, we
37:45
sneak into my dad's room. What do you guys do?
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We go to sleep and whenever I do, my mom takes me out.
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There's a single day or an hour that goes by that I don't take
37:59
in everything. The smell of my daughter's hair
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or just the smile my son would give me, an honestly out of
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nowhere soft touch, my wife's hand, just driving in the car.
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Normally those are things people might take for granted, but on a
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daily basis, on an hourly basis, I'm able to appreciate and have
38:22
these things all over again every day, every hour.
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Because of that, because of what Ross did, he gave me, my wife
38:30
and my kids back. The nation honours Ross with its
38:34
highest award, but for Newland it's hard to say thanks for the
38:39
gift of life. Someone gives you a life, let
38:43
you live, gives you their life and can you thank them enough?
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Is that possible? I think for me to thank him is
38:54
to do everything that I can do to live my life to the fullest,
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to show Ross that no, I will fight through all odds.
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Because if he can have courage like that, if he can give up his
39:07
19 year old life, then I can live the rest of my life,
39:12
however long it is, to every day's fullest.
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Pfc McGinnis I'm the Co maker of this film for the hell of the
39:20
day. We've been in Iraq for about 3-3
39:24
months, three good months. We've seen quite a bit of action
39:28
already. We don't need to see much more,
39:30
but we've got enough on film to make a pretty good.
39:32
Film. That's what we're going to do
39:33
for you guys. Anybody watching this?
39:37
This is our live. OK, So that's the end of that
39:51
video. And again, that came out in
39:53
2007. So Ian's daughter, I believe she
40:01
would be 19 or 20 now. And I believe the last I heard
40:12
from Ian's ex-wife. And yes, unfortunately he and
40:19
his wife got divorced. Haley.
40:28
Is trying to go to college and eventually go to medical school
40:37
to study neurology and to help veterans with PTSD, you know, as
40:50
a way to honor her father, which I find very admirable.
40:57
And I do know, you know, I do know it has been brought to my
41:09
attention by a few people that Ian, Long story short, he, he
41:23
and his wife, his first wife got divorced around like 2000 12.
41:33
He was remarried. He was remarried I think that
41:41
same year. And then they got divorced.
41:48
And I know that that wife alleged domestic violence
41:55
allegations against him and actually went on a podcast about
42:03
like a year or two ago. Someone did send me that
42:07
podcast. I've not watched the whole
42:13
thing. All I can say is I don't know
42:19
really what you know happened Tui and you know, after 2015
42:28
when my old service dog Clark passed away.
42:32
I do know that he struggled with substance abuse and kind of more
42:41
or less vanished and no one has had contact with him, I think
42:50
for the better part of five years or so.
42:57
But I still prefer to think of Ian as one of my heroes, as the
43:10
man I met who received my old service, dot Clark, and who I
43:19
formed a bond with over that. And so again, you know, I'd like
43:29
to honor Pfc Ross McGinnis. And you know, who, again, I'm
43:40
tied to in a very, you know, I never met the man.
43:45
I've met some of his family members, I've communicated with
43:55
them. And even 20 years, even nearly
43:58
20 years later, his his loss is still very fresh for his family
44:07
members and his friends. And so, you know, as I mentioned
44:16
it at the beginning of the show, all about men and women who made
44:21
the ultimate sacrifice deserve recognition on Memorial Day.
44:33
And yeah, I feel that because of my personal connection to Ross,
44:44
I wanted to honor his memory and his legacy personally on today's
44:53
Whitfield report. So I want to thank each and
44:57
everyone of you for tuning into today's episode.
45:01
I realize it's a bit of a short one, but I wanted to do a Monday
45:06
stream and I also wanted to do a stream to, like I said, honor
45:12
Ross McGinnis and under other veterans who gave all in service
45:23
to this country. I want to thank each and
45:26
everyone of you for tuning in. Feel free to click the links in
45:33
the the description and we also have a new Discord as well real
45:43
quick too. I just want to announce that I
45:46
will be doing a premium stream later on tomorrow at some point
45:59
for those interested. Going over some of my photos
46:04
from New York City and should be pretty fun.
46:09
So I want to thank each and everyone of you for tuning in.
46:13
I will be back Wednesday with Max and I'm sure we'll have
46:22
plenty to talk out then as well as far as topics and what not,
46:28
and probably some news and wacky stuff.
46:31
By the way, I want to thank each and everyone of you for tuning
46:34
in. I guess, you know, as I said, it
46:41
always feels weird to say happy Memorial Day, but happy Memorial
46:46
Day. And you know, thank you to all
46:51
of the men and women who have given all for this country.
47:01
May they all rest in peace and may we honor their sacrifice
47:07
because it does mean everything that they gave all so that we
47:13
may continue to live. Thank you for tuning in and
47:20
we'll see you on Wednesday. The right to offend is not some
47:26
pesky little part of freedom of speech that we have to put up
47:29
with. It is the heart and soul and
47:32
lungs of freedom of speech. It is the coursing lifeblood of
47:36
human progress. It is the instigator of liberty
47:40
and modernity and science and understanding.
47:43
What a laughing stock today's student leaders are that they
47:47
can so casually dismiss the right to be offensive without
47:51
realising that their lovely, enlightened lives are the gifts
47:56
of individuals who gave offence. Offensiveness is not just
48:00
something we have to begrudgingly accept.
48:03
Offensiveness is the motor of human progress.
48:08
Thank you for watching the Whitfield Report live on the
48:11
Right to Offend Media Network. Make sure to check out Sam's
48:15
books on Amazon, Audible, and Kindle.
48:18
You can follow Sam on X at Sam W, under score, NGC and the
48:25
Right to Offend Media Network at RTO Media.
48:29
Like, comment, subscribe and share with your friends.
48:34
And until next time, God bless, God save this great nation.
48:40
God, freedom, legacy, in that order.