Joseph E. Coffey

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Joseph E. Coffey, Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Soissons, France, July 20, 1918. After all the officers of his company had been killed or wounded and his company commander had taken command of the battalion, Sergeant Coffey unhesitatingly took command of and skillfully led the company forward in the face of a heavy hostile fire and successfully took their objective. On October 9, 1918, in the Argonne Forest, after being severely wounded, he refused to be evacuated and continued to advance with his platoon. Displaying the greatest courage and gallantry, he voluntarily attempted to save the life of his company commander, who had been severely wounded by enemy machine-gun fire. It was during this heroic effort that Sergeant Coffey was killed.