_Colyer, Wilbur E., Sergeant_, Co. A, 1st Engineers, 1st Division,
Ozone Park, L. I.—Verdun, France, Oct. 9, 1918. Volunteering with two
other soldiers to locate machine-gun nests, Sergeant Colyer advanced on
the hostile positions to a point where he was half surrounded by the
nests, which were in ambush. He killed the gunner of one gun with a
captured German grenade and then turned this gun on the other nests,
silencing all of them before he returned to his platoon. He was later
killed in action.
* * * * *
_Ellis, Michael B., Sergeant_, Co. C, 28th Infantry, 1st Division, East
St. Louis, Ill.—Exermont, France, Oct. 5, 1918. During the entire day’s
engagement he operated far in advance of the first wave of his company,
voluntarily undertaking most dangerous missions and single-handed
attacking and reducing machine-gun nests. Flanking one emplacement,
he killed two of the enemy with rifle fire and captured seventeen
others. Later he single-handed advanced under heavy fire and captured
twenty-seven prisoners, including two officers and six machine guns,
which had been holding up the advance of the company. The captured
officers indicated the locations of four other machine guns, and he in
turn captured these, together with their crews, at all times showing
marked heroism and fearlessness.