Last week, U.S. Army Specialist Michael Conner of East Bethel, MN was on his way home to recover from a recent surgery on his arm.

He was waiting to board his flight out of  Watertown, NY when he noticed a young woman in line, crying and upset. She, it turned out, was flying out to California by herself to see her grandfather who was passing away. She needed to check her bag, but the airline agent wouldn't let her check it without a credit card, which she didn't have. She was on her phone Facetiming her dad, who was also upset. The airline agent, apparently, wouldn't accept her dad's credit card over Facetime, which left the young women with only a couple options including not making the flight or leaving her bag behind.

Seeing all this, Specialist Conner stepped forward and offered to pay for the girl's bag. "I wasn't going to let her miss her flight for a $50 dollar bag,," he told KSTP later. Grateful, she asked him what she could do to pay him back.

"I'm like don't worry about it," Conner said, "just fly home and have a safe flight."

What Conner didn't know is that his kind gesture was noticed by others, including Greg McLean. McLean, who was in line for the same flight, saw what Conner did and took a photo of him and his bag from behind, sharing the story on Facebook.

I noticed a young soldier, with the 10th Mtn Division from FORT DRUM, NY, stepped up and said “don’t be upset, I got it.” Without hesitation he pulled out his bank card out and paid for her checked bag, resolving the situation. She asked what she could do to thank him and he simply said “don’t worry about it” and got back in line for security.

 

He did an amazing and heartfelt thing. He needs to know that and his Command staff need to know that.

McLean's post spread quickly and -- by the next day -- Conner was receiving text messages and other notes from people who had heard about his act of kindness.

"I woke up on Wednesday morning, I got a message from one of my friends saying ‘Hey man, good job,’ I was like 'What?'” Conner said.

According to KSTP, Specialist Conner is from East Bethel and attended St. Francis High School. After his act of kindness went viral, even Army leaders at Fort Drum in New York wanted to meet with him about the moment at the airport.

"The key to this post is to understand that no matter what is going on in the world and with all the negativity, we can as humans commit to treating others the way we want to be treated," shared McLean in an update on Facebook.