Bayard Brown

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Bayard Brown, Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Soissons, France, July 2 – 22, and near Verdun, France, October 9, 1918. Lieutenant Brown took command of his battalion at Soissons after all his senior officers had been killed or wounded, organized for a counterattack, and held his command all day, although he was dangerously wounded. In the fight for Hill 212, in the Argonne, he took command of his company after his company commander had been killed, and led it forward until mortally wounded within 50 yards of the enemy position.