Will Swenson

Swenson was commissioned as a United States Army infantry officer in September 2002 and deployed three times in the war on terror, once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan He received the Medal of Honor for his gallantry during the battle of Ganjgal (Afghanistan).

During the battle, coalition forces entered the valley and was ambushed by approximately 60 insurgent fighters, who quickly surrounded the column on three sides from terraced high ground. Within an hour, communication with the front of the column, which included four U.S. servicemen, was lost. Meanwhile, Captain Swenson, initially positioned toward the rear of the column, called for air support and, along with two comrades, crossed 50 meters of open terrain under direct enemy fire to provide critical first aid to his severely wounded sergeant.

Swenson and his team transported his sergeant and other wounded personnel to a helicopter for medical evacuation. They then returned to the enemy's "kill zone" multiple times using an unarmored vehicle to evacuate additional casualties. Venturing further into the kill zone towards the head of the column, in search of four U.S. servicemen, Swenson's group first rescued and recovered several wounded and deceased members of the Afghan National Security Forces. Ultimately, Swenson and a small team retrieved the four fallen U.S. servicemen, who had been located by a search and rescue aircraft at noon. The seven-hour firefight resulted in 15 coalition fatalities, including the four U.S. servicemen; additionally, Swenson's sergeant, Kenneth Westbrook, succumbed to his injuries after returning from Afghanistan. Swenson's actions are credited with directly saving more than a dozen Afghan lives.