This evening, after dinner was put away and the youngest’s cello practice was over, we retreated to our study, closed the door, and and went up on the World Wide Web to www.Whitehouse.gov to watch the awarding of the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Clinton L. Romesha. As a section leader with Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th United States Infantry Division, Sergeant Romesha had been at Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan on the day when its 50 GIs were fallen upon by 300 enemy. It took a day of constant fighting to repel them, and it was during the entire day that Sergeant Romesha displayed the courage that has now been recognized with the nation’s highest decoration for gallantry.

President Obama, who conducted the ceremony in an extremely affecting way, related how he had telephoned the sergeant to let him know he would be receiving the medal. The president quoted Sergeant Romesha as saying it wasn’t just him alone but his whole team who deserved the recognition. So the President shared the honor with Team B, including those who made what the President called the “ultimate sacrifice” The commander-in-chief read their names one by one, Private First Class Kevin Thomson; Sergeant Michael Scusa; Sergeant Joshua Kirk; Sergeant Christopher Griffin; Staff Sergeant Justin Gallegos; Staff Sergeant Vernon Martin; Sergeant Joshua Hardt; and Specialist Stephan Mace.

After the president spoke, the citation was read, while an officer held the famous ribbon of cerulean flecked with white stars. The ribbon was handed to the President, on whom Sergeant Romesha then turned his back — not in any hostile way but so that his commander in chief could drape him with the mint of valor. They shook hands. Through much of the proceedings, the camera was focused on the sergeant’s face. The sergeant was stoic, pursing his lips and occasionally blinking. He was described by the president as a man of faith, and the ceremony concluded, as it had begun, with a prayer.

One of the things of which we were reminded during the ceremony is that the Act of Congress authorizing the President to make the award was passed in March 1863. Through all the wars since then, conflicts in which hundreds of thousands have perished, but 3,465 of the medals were authorized, 627 of them posthumously. The Medal of Honor is higher than the Distinguished Service, Navy, and Air Force Crosses, and in terms of precedence, there are no medals above it. Yet we were struck watching the ceremony this evening at the modesty of the moment, the easy interaction between the president and the hero and the families. The talk of politics and policy fell away in a moment of glory.