Rice McNutt Youell

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Rice McNutt Youell, Major, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Verdun, France, October 1 – 12, 1918. Taking command of his battalion after the battalion commander had been mortally wounded, he led it with remarkable bravery throughout nine days of the hardest fighting, though he was himself painfully wounded on the first day, when he led his command in storming the heights beyond the Rau de Gauffre. On October 10, when the enemy’s resistance had been broken and a rapid thrust into the disorganized defenses was necessary in order to enable a unit on the right to advance, Major Youell, with one company and no artillery support pushed forward two kilometers under heavy fire, driving back a force of enemy infantry superior n number to his own, and capturing important artillery positions on Hill 263.