Jay C. Pritchard

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Jay C. Pritchard, Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Thiaucourt, France, September 12, 1918. Though he was greatly fatigued from walking 30 kilometers in an effort to locate his company from which he had become separated, Sergeant Pritchard organized a squad of men, who had also become separated from their organizations, and, advancing with them for more than nine kilometers, took up a position in advance of the infantry and directed effective machine-gun fire against the enemy, breaking up a hostile counterattack, until an enemy shell demolished the gun. Though he was severely wounded, and suffering much pain, he conducted his squad back to Thiaucourt before permitting himself to be evacuated.