Thomas D. Amory
Home Town: Wilmington, DE
General Orders No. 37, W.D., 1919
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Thomas D. Amory, Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Verdun, France, October 2, 1918. Lieutenant Amory took out a patrol of 64 men, penetrating the enemy lines for the purpose of reconnoitering terrain, over which an advance was to be made on the following morning. When his patrol was fired on by machine guns from all sides, Lieutenant Amory led three of his men forward to clear the machine-gun nests, placing the rest of his men under cover. He succeeded in overcoming one of these nests and killing the crew, but as he was advancing on another gun, located in a house about 10 yards away, he was killed by a machine-gun bullet, his last words being, “We will take that nest or die trying. “
