US President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Michael Ollis, who was killed in Afghanistan's Ghazni province on 28 August 2013, aged 24.
Trump described how a Taliban attack breached the building where the two soldiers were stationed.
When shrapnel wounded Polish Lieutenant Karol Cierpica in the leg, leaving him unable to move, Sergeant Ollis placed himself between the lieutenant and a suicide bomber, absorbing the blast.
He died weeks before his 25th birthday.
Visibly emotional when invited to speak, Lieutenant Cierpica told the gathered audience: "My commitment and my greatest gift is to cultivate the heroic act of courage I witnessed."
"Please forgive me if my words have not fully captured what I truly feel today."
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who attended the ceremony, called it "an extraordinary testament to the brotherhood of arms, proven by the ultimate sacrifice – the sacrifice of one's own life".
The Medal of Honor is awarded for acts of courage beyond the call of duty.
The US Embassy in Warsaw described Sergeant Ollis's action as reflecting "the best values that unite us and the enduring strength of the US-Poland alliance".
(ał)
Source: IAR