Harry C. Ricket

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Harry C. Ricket, Cook, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action at Chateau-de-la-Foret, near Villers-sur-Fere, France, on July 28 – 29, 1918. Cook Ricket maintained his kitchen during a bombardment so intense as to drive all other kitchens out of the village. When his stove had to be taken to the rear he improvised a fire in the ground and continued his work until ordered to leave. He carried water from a spring, which was repeatedly shelled, when others would not approach it. Unaided, of his own volition, he conducted a first-aid station for wounded and exhausted men at his kitchen. Constantly in extreme personal danger from machine-gun fire from low-flying aero planes and bombardment by high-explosive shells, he devoted himself entirely to the needs of others and made possible the care of several hundred wounded, exhausted, and hungry men.