IRAQ: Navy to name ship after SEAL awarded Medal of Honor

The Navy will name a Zumwalt-class destroyer after a SEAL who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for diving on a grenade to save three buddies during a firefight in Ramadi, Iraq.

"Michael Monsoor's name will now be linked with one of our nation's most visible examples of military power — a U.S. Navy warship," Navy Secretary Donald Winter said in announcing the decision Wednesday night.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Monsoor died in 2006 while smothering an insurgent grenade that had been hurled at SEALs who were providing rooftop overwatch for Army troops. He was 25.

The destroyer bearing his name is set to be completed in 2014.

The Navy is naming a ship after another SEAL posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor: Lt. Michael P. Murphy, killed during an assault on an enemy position in Afghanistan.

Tony Perry, San Diego

Photo: Michael Monsoor during deployment to Afghanistan. credit: Monsoor family/U.S. Navy

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