James M. Richardson

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to James M. Richardson, Second Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Grand Pre, France, October 6, 1918. Second Lieutenant Richardson undertook an infantry contact patrol mission under weather conditions which necessitated flying at an altitude of only 100 meters. Near the front lines machine-guns opened an effective fire on his plane, and he was wounded in the foot, but he continued on the mission until the front lines of the American troops were located and his observer had written out a report for the division commander.