Joseph T. Atkinson

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Joseph T. Atkinson, Private, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Heuvel, Belgium, November 2, 1918. Private Atkinson, with two other soldiers, crossed the Scheldt River, after two attempts, and succeeded in stretching a line for a bridge across the stream. They were discovered and fired upon by the enemy, but they continued at work driving stakes, and made a second trip across the river to obtain wire, despite the fact that a violent artillery barrage had been laid down on their position.