Thank you, Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor.

A Navy SEAL sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade that Iraqi fighters tossed into their sniper hideout, fellow members of the elite force said.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities remain secret.

“He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it,” said a 28-year-old lieutenant who suffered shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. “He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs’ lives, and we owe him.”

We all do.

This may have been his last act of bravery, but it wasn’t his first.

Monsoor had previously demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, where he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them.

And from across the pond, thank you Private Peter McKinley, an ally and a hero.

A PARATROOPER from Manchester has been nominated for the Victoria Cross for saving the life of a wounded American soldier while under fire from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Private Peter McKinley, 21, could become only the second living serviceman in 40 years to be awarded Britain’s highest military honour.

He endured a 15-minute barrage of grenades and machine-gun fire as he treated the US serviceman during one of the fiercest battles of the current campaign fought by the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment.

The world could use more guys like Monsoor and McKinley.