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WASHINGTON – An Army officer who led troops through a 7-hour firefight to rescue and recover dozens of fallen comrades received the nation’s highest military honor Tuesday at the White House.
Rare helmet-camera video shot in Afghanistan by a Medevac helicopter crew during the Battle of Ganjal Gar shows Capt. Will Swenson braving enemy fire to help his friend, mortally wounded First Sgt. Kenneth Westbrook, onto the aircraft.
He leans in and kisses the wounded soldier on the head a simple act of compassion and loyalty to a brother-in-arms, President Obama said before presenting Swenson, 34, the Congressional Medal of Honor. And as the door closes and the helicopter takes off, he turns and goes back the way he came, back into the heat of battle.
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U. S. Army
Capt. William Swenson at a meeting with a senior Zone (Brigade) leadership to discuss the security in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, March 2009.
After rescuing Westbrook, Swenson would venture three more times into the kill zone of a Taliban ambush to save more than a dozen wounded comrades and recover the bodies of four slain American servicemen.
As one of his fellow soldiers later said, Will did things that nobody else would ever do, and he did it for his guys and for everybody on the ground, to get them out, Obama said.
The president honored Swenson in a stately East Room ceremony that was held on the 15th day of a bitter partisan battle that has left the federal government partially shut down.
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Ap
Former Army Capt. William D. Swenson was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in a lengthy battle against the Taliban insurgents in the Ganjgal valley near the Pakistan border on Sept. 8, 2009.
As Congress bickered over ways to end the shutdown in the U.S. Capitol just a mile down Pennsylvania Avenue, Obama seemed to point to the contrast between Swenson’s selflessness and the self-serving calculations of lawmakers.
Our nation needs this ceremony today, Obama said. In moments like this, Americans like Will remind us of what our country can be at its best, a nation of citizens who look out for one another, who meet our obligations to one another not just when it’s easy, but also when it’s hard maybe especially when it’s hard.
The President called Swenson an example to everyone in this city and to our whole country of the professionalism and patriotism that we should strive for, whether we wear a uniform or not, not just on particular occasions but all the time.
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U. S. Army
Capt. William Swenson leads Afghan Border Police members as they board a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, May 2009.
Swenson distinguished himself while accompanying U.S. Marines and a larger contingent of Afghan National Army troops for a scheduled meeting with elders in the village of Ganjal on Sept. 9, 2009.
As the troops neared the village, Taliban fighters ambushed the column from three sides, killing or wounding dozens and pinning down those who could still fight.
With a superior officer hit, Swenson took control and fought his way through the bullets to aid Westbrook, responding to a Taliban fighter’s demand for surrender with a tossed hand grenade.
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U. S. Army
Capt. William Swenson looks out at the rough terrain of Eastern Afghanistan from a Black Hawk helicopter.
On his final trip back into the fire, Swenson was accompanied by then-Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer, who received the Medal of Honor in 2011 for his own actions that day to rescue wounded and recover the dead.
Swenson’s honor represents only the second time since Vietnam and the second in just two months that a pair of surviving veterans have received the award for actions in the same battle.
The battle and its aftermath spawned rare controversy for a Medal of Honor nomination after Swenson’s original nomination documents were lost.
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U. S. Army
Capt. William Swenson at a pre-mission briefing in northern Kunar, Afghanistan, March 2009.
That fed speculation of retribution for Swenson’s criticism of fellow officers’ refusal to provide artillery support during the battle, along with reports that the narrative of Swenson’s nomination conflicted with Meyers’ account.
The Marine Corps Times and McClatchy newspapers reported than in interviews conducted by superiors, Swenson blasted peers on duty at a tactical operations center during the battle who denied his requests for artillery fire due to the possible proximity of civilians in the village.
When I’m being second-guessed by higher or somebody that’s sitting in an air-conditioned [command center], why [the] hell am I even out there in the first place? Swenson told investigators, according to documents obtained by Marine Corps Times.
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U. S. Army
Capt. William Swenson sits in Task Force Chosin mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle while conducting a shura, October 2009.
Swenson was re-nominated for the medal in 2011 by Marine Corps. Gen. John Allen, then commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan who also ordered an investigation into the loss of the original nomination papers, McClatchy reported.
The Pentagon estimates that Swenson saved at least 12 lives during the fight.
Killed in the ambush were Marine gunnery sergeants Edwin Johnson and Aaron Kenefick, First Lt. Michael Johnson, and Navy Corpsman James Layton. Westbrook died of his wounds nearly a month later.
Army staff sergeants Clint Romesha and Ty Carter each received the Medal of Honor for actions in repelling a brutal attack on Combat Outpost Keating, also in Afghanistan, on Oct. 3 2009.
Swenson’s Medal of Honor is the sixth awarded to a living veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another six have been awarded posthumously.
jstraw@nydailynews.com
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