Sergeant Michael H. Ollis died in August 2013 during a Taliban attack on a NATO base in Ghazni, eastern Afghanistan.

Several Taliban insurgents blasted their way into the compound, and as a US report recorded, Sergeant Ollis ''stepped in front of a Polish officer as a Taliban insurgent detonated his vest."

Lieutenant Karol Cierpica has called his son Michał (the Polish for Michael) in honour of his saviour.