William H. Powell

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to William H. Powell, Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Bellicourt, France, September 29, 1918. Sergeant Powell, then a private, took charge of four other soldiers who had become separated from their platoon and led them forward toward the objective. Attacking a machine-gun nest, they captured seven prisoners and a Maxim gun, which they immediately put into action and fired 2,000 rounds at the enemy. They then continued to advance under heavy artillery and machine- gun fire.