Robert L. Eichelberger

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Robert L. Eichelberger, Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in Siberia, June 28 – July 3, 1919, while serving as assistant chief of staff, G-2, American Expeditionary Forces, Siberia. On July 2, 1919, after the capture by American troops of Novitskaya, an American platoon detailed to clear hostile patrols from a commanding ridge was halted by enemy enfilading fire, seriously wounding the members of the patrol. Colonel Eichelberger, without regard to his own safety and armed with a rifle, voluntarily covered the withdrawal of the platoon. On June 28, at the imminent danger of his own life, he entered the partisan lines and effected the release of one American officer and three enlisted men in exchange for a Russian prisoner. On July 3 an American column being fired upon when debouching from a mountain pass, Colonel Eichelberger voluntarily assisted in establishing the firing line, prevented confusion, and, by his total disregard for his own safety, raised the morale of the American forces to a high pitch.