General Pershing approved, according to an announcement on March 19, the
awarding of the first American military crosses for extraordinary
heroism. The recipients were Lieutenant John O. Green, Sergeant William
Norton, and Sergeant Patrick Walsh. The crosses were awarded for
"extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an
armed enemy." The exploits of these men were described by the General
commanding their division as follows:
I recommend that the Distinguished Service Cross be awarded to
the officer and men named hereafter, who distinguished
themselves by acts of extraordinary heroism.
Lieutenant Green, while in a dugout, having been wounded by an
enemy hand grenade, was summoned to surrender. He refused to do
so. Returning the fire of the enemy, he wounded one and pursued
the hostile party.
Sergeant Norton, finding himself in a dugout surrounded by the
enemy, into which a grenade had just been thrown, refused to
surrender, and made a bold dash outside, killing one of his
assailants. By so doing he saved the company's log book.
Sergeant Walsh followed his company commander to the first lines
in spite of a severe barrage. The Captain being killed, he
assumed command of the group and attacked a superior force of
the enemy, inflicting severe loss upon them. Though of advanced
age he refused to leave the front.
To these recommendations General Pershing appended his approval.
Lieutenant Green and Sergeants Norton and Walsh had all previously
received the French War Cross, Norton and Walsh being decorated
personally by Premier Clemenceau on March 3.
Mr. Baker, Secretary of War, during a visit to the front-line trenches
held by American troops, insisted upon going through a sap to a
listening post. Peeping over the parapet into No Man's Land, he
expressed his sensations in the words: "Now I am on the frontier of
freedom." On the return journey from the trenches a German shell burst
within less than fifty yards of Mr. Baker's motor car, hit a roadside
dugout, and tore out a large crater.