12 years after he died saving a stranger, his parents got a call from the White House

9/11 left a big impact on Michael. His desire to go into the army.

He says, “Do you realize your son was a hero?”

“My name is Linda Ellis.”

“My name is Robert Ellis.”

“September 11th, 2001. We learned about 9/11 while we were home on Staten Island watching Regis and Kelly. A plane has crashed into one of the Twin Towers. Their morning show was interrupted. Nobody knew what was going on. Michael was in middle school at the time. He was at school that day.”

9/11 left a big impact on Michael. Michael was always interested in the service. Going into the army, he always spoke about that.

“I was air assault in Vietnam in 1967. But I think after 9/11 happened, his desire to serve grew even more so. He was in the ROTC at the Tottenville High School.”

“He had signed the papers and he brought them home for us to sign. I said, “Holy moly. Michael, you’re going in the army.”

“I was always scared for him.”

“So many people said to me, “Bob, you got to tell him what it’s like.” And I used to brush people off. I couldn’t. I didn’t know what Afghanistan was like. I felt like a helpless father. When he came home, we were outside and I was helping him with his gear. He just wasn’t the happy-go-lucky kid that used to run around the neighborhood and he kept saying it over and over again, “I am responsible for this squad and I’m going to make sure that they are going to get home alive.” He wasn’t worried about Michael. He was worried about them.”

“Michael left in January of 2013. I felt a little better because it was a 9-month deployment and typically he was on his deployments with 13 months. So, I thought, “Well, this is a quick one.” Always in the back of my mind though, you know, it could be the last time I’m saying goodbye to him.”

“We kissed goodbye and I just sat there. He took his gear and he went into the building and I sat outside. I sat there for the longest time and I cried. And I didn’t know why. But I knew something was not right.”

“I’ve tried reading the incident report. I’ve read some of it. It’s very difficult to read for me. It wasn’t an American base. It was a Polish base. So, he didn’t have the obligation to go out to the fight. But he heard the blast and he felt that this is something that he should do. In the meantime, he found a soldier that was wounded and even though he didn’t speak the same language, they communicated and Michael protected him from an assassin.”

“He pointed to his eyes and patted his back. Meaning Michael, “I have your back.”

“A soldier from Staten Island becomes the 92nd city resident to be killed in the line of duty since September 11th.”

“You have so many emotions going through you when you hear the news. The army picked us up and there was a first sergeant. He says, “You know, do you realize your son was a hero?”

“Karol Chrapizza was the Polish lieutenant that Michael saved. Total stranger. Never met this Lieutenant Chrapizza. We were going to the Polish consulate. We were invited over there. So, here comes Lieutenant Chrapizza, nervous, doesn’t know how we’re going to react towards him. I grabbed a hold of him and I hugged him. And I said, “Thank you for your service.”

“Our neighbors were outside sitting in lawn chairs up at the corner waiting for us where the flags were. The flags on our block have been up since 2013. Memorial continues. Our neighbors are wonderful. They haven’t forgotten Michael.”

“The President: “Robert and Linda.”

“Linda: “Hi, Mr. President.”

“Robert: “Hi, Mr. President. How are you?”

“It was in February. You know, we were home that day. I kept saying, “This is surreal.”

“The President: “Your son is going to get the highest honor that you can have. There is no higher honor than the Congressional Medal of Honor.”

“Nothing like we ever expected in our lifetime and we just wish that Michael was the one to receive it. And not us. Not us. And not us.

“Every time I spoke to him when I hung up, I said, “I love you. You’re number one. You were always number one. You’re my son and I’m proud of you.”

“We didn’t lose anybody in 9/11 personally to us. We knew of a lot of people but nobody that was that close and yet we did. Because of 9/11. Because of 9/11. We lost our son.”