Former Army Capt. William D. Swenson received the Medal of Honor for valor from President Obama during an Oct. 16 White House ceremony, for valor he displayed during a Sept. 8, 2009 firefight in Afghanistan. Swenson, who left the Army two years ago, has submitted a request to return to active duty, according to media reports. Service officials have his request under consideration. According to official accounts of the combat action, Swenson was serving as an embedded advisor to Afghan National Army troops as they entered the village of Ganjgal in the country’s Kunar province. Besides the contingent of Afghan forces and members of his own team, a Navy hospital corpsman and three Marines accompanied him. As they approached the village, townspeople turned down all the lights. Shortly afterward, the advancing cadre of troops began taking fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenade launchers from a large contingent of Taliban fighters that were hiding in the village. During the six-hour firefight that ensued, Swenson and his comrades were pinned down. Seeing that Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook was wounded, Swenson ran to his aid across 50 meters of open ground under enemy fire. Later, Swenson jumped behind the wheel of an Afghan army pickup truck and headed through enemy fire again – to rescue wounded Afghan soldiers. He also braved enemy fire again, to recover the bodies of the three Marines and Navy corpsman, who had been killed by the enemy. Westbrook died later in a military hospital. "Capt. Will Swenson was a leader on that September morning," Obama said. "But like all great leaders, he was also a servant — to the men he commanded, to the more than a dozen Afghans and Americans whose lives he saved, to the families of those who gave their last full measure of devotion on that faraway field." Swenson was a member of the Fort Drum, N.Y.— based 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, at the time, serving with the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan’s Task Force Phoenix. Swenson is the second U.S. service member to receive the nation’s highest military award for valor in combat. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dakota Meyer received the Medal of Honor two years ago, for his role during the Battle of Ganjgal. Meyer left the Marine Corps in 2010.
