Herbert Reeves Smith

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Herbert Reeves Smith, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action at Ojo de Agua, Texas, October 21, 1915. When the detachment of which he was a member was treacherously attacked at night by a hostile Mexican force of approximately five times its strength and the senior line noncommissioned officer of the detachment and two other men killed, Sergeant Smith, although suffering from three wounds, took command, and by his coolness, personal bravery, and qualities of leadership encouraged the detachment and organized its defense that the greatly superior force of Mexicans was driven off and the detachment saved from probable annihilation.