What an extraordinary piece of film is up on the World Wide Web today in respect of William D. Swenson, on whom President Obama has just bestowed the Medal of Honor for his heroism at Afghanistan. The footage of the then-captain in the Army may be the first footage ever put up on the Web of an American hero doing at least some of the deeds that have just been recognized with the nation’s highest award for valor. Captain Swenson reacted by asking to return to active duty and to the comrades for whom he was clearly prepared to lay down his life.

The actions for which Captain Swenson was honored today took place on September 8, 2009, during an engagement against the Taliban at the Ganigal Valley near Pakistan. Five Americans, 10 Afghan army troops, and an interpreter fell in the combat. It was in the course of seeking to recover bodies and help his fellow GIs that Swenson risked his life, and some of the deeds were recorded by a camera on helmet of a member of the helicopter crew.

Yet what is so striking is not the gun fights that we sometimes — accurately, no doubt — imagine erupting all around our GIs in the course of their heroic conduct. The detail that everyone is focusing on in the footage released by the Army this week is of what happened when a helicopter approached the battlefield and settled down to pick up a wounded GI. Captain Swenson raced to the helicopter, carrying a wounded comrade, Sergeant First Class Kenneth Westbrook, and after he placed him in the chopper, he leaned over and — at four minutes and 10 seconds into the clip that is up on Youtube.com — gave his comrade a kiss.

It was the kiss of courage — and of comradeship of battle. What a national treasure of a moment it is, all the more so because Westbrook made it back to America and saw his wife before he, while at Walter Reed Hospital, succumbed to his wounds. It was evident that President Obama understood the full import of the occasion. “I think our nation needs this ceremony today,” the President said. “In moments like this, Americans like Will remind us of what our nation 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 its easy, but also when it’s hard, maybe especially when it’s hard.”