Joseph A. Mendelson

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Joseph A. Mendelson, First Lieutenant (Medical Corps), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Ville Savoye, France, August 15 – 16, 1918. During a heavy enemy bombardment with gas and high explosive shells, Lieutenant Mendelson worked for more than three hours, picking up wounded and gassed men and securing their evacuation, being forced to remove his gas mask in order to accomplish this work. Though he was almost exhausted from fatigue, he then proceeded to the aid station of another battalion and assisted in treating hundreds of men. Though he was himself suffering from the effects of gas, he refused to go to the hospital upon the completion of this work, as all the other medical officers had been evacuated.