Benjamin W. Diggs

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Benjamin W. Diggs, Private First Class, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Montbrehain, France, October 7, 1918. Private Diggs volunteered and successfully carried a message through heavy shell and machine gun fire in plain view of the enemy, after one runner had been killed and two others wounded in attempting to accomplish this mission. Though he was gassed in performing this feat, Private Diggs refused to seek first aid until he was wounded later in the afternoon.