James H. Collins

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to James H. Collins, Private, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action west of St. Juvin, France, October 16, 1918. Private Collins, with another soldier, volunteered to cross a level open space for 600 yards, swept by converging machine-gun fire, to deliver a message to the front line, undeterred by the knowledge that six other soldiers had been wounded in a similar attempt. Crawling from one shell hole to another, he succeeded in reaching the front line and delivering the message.