Spring 2006: The Mullab section of Ramadi, Iraq. Graffiti boast that this is "the graveyard of the Americans." Leaving your base camp virtually guarantees a fight, and I'm in one the first day of my embed. When shots ring out, I jump into the street to start snapping pictures. I look back and see a tall Navy SEAL seemingly pointing his MK48 medium machine gun right at me.

In fact, he was protecting me as well as his teammates. SEALs don't wear identification--even on dress uniforms--and I would never have learned his name if, six months later, he hadn't sacrificed all to save those same teammates.

Last week I looked on as President Bush, tears glistening on his face, presented the parents of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class (Sea, Air, and Land) Michael Monsoor our nation's highest award--the Medal of Honor. "Mr. and Mrs. Monsoor: America owes you a debt that can never be repaid," he said. "This nation will always cherish the memory of your son."

Before the shooting began in Ramadi, the SEALs made clear their disapproval of my presence. Two journalists had previously embedded with my unit, first battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Snipers shot and wounded them both because they stood too long in one spot. This forced soldiers and SEALs to run to where they knew a sniper scope was trained and drag the men to cover. A 101st sergeant was seriously wounded during one rescue. As far as the SEALs were concerned, I

As it became clear that day in Ramadi that this was a full-fledged attack, 19 men from two platoons of SEAL Team 3 split into two groups, each grabbing a rooftop--the "high ground" in urban warfare. The attackers never had a chance. "Those SEALs fight like machines," I later wrote in these pages ("The New Band of Brothers," June 19, 2006). But machines don't die, and within weeks a member of the platoon, Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Marc Alan Lee, became the first SEAL killed in Iraq.

Six months later, when I returned to the same part of Ramadi, it was already tamer, in part because of the actions of 1/506th and of the SEAL platoons. Yet there was terrible news: A second SEAL had just been lost.

On the morning of September 29, 2006--St. Michael's Day--the 25-year-old Monsoor was standing as lookout at a sniper post on a rooftop outcropping between two other SEALs who were lying in the prone position. They were helping drive back an attack, and had already taken out two enemy.

Suddenly a grenade bounced off Monsoor's body armor chest plate and fell at his feet. Monsoor knew that by then the fuse was too short to allow the grenade to be tossed out. He also knew the prone SEALs couldn't move. He was the only one in a position to save his own life; but he did the opposite. Without hesitation he smothered the blast with his own body. The other SEALs still sustained serious wounds, but Monsoor had saved their lives.