On the last day of his life, on a rooftop in Ramadi, Iraq, Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor was assigned to protect three SEAL snipers. When an insurgent grenade, lobbed from the street, bounced off Monsoor’s chest, he didn’t hesitate. He yelled “Grenade!” and pounced on it even though he had a clear path of escape.

Monsoor was dead within 30 minutes but had saved the lives of three SEALs, two of whom were injured in the blast.

Yesterday, the White House announced that Monsoor, 25, who grew up in Orange County, Calif., has been selected to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest medal for combat bravery, for his actions September 29, 2006.

Monsoor’s family and his fellow SEALs said yesterday that, even as they grieve his death, they are not surprised that he sought the safety of others before his own.

Sara Monsoor, a pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, said her brother never mentioned the dangers of his deployment in his e-mails and calls home. Still, the family knew he had been assigned to what was the most violent city in al-Anbar province, the home of the most hardcore elements in the Sunni Arab insurgency.