William J. Parker
Home Town: Lexington, NC
Distinguished Service Cross
World War I
U.S. Army
General Orders 81, W.D., 1919
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to William J. Parker, Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Bellicourt, France, September 29, 1918. Severely wounded in the abdomen while in charge of a detail carrying up trench mortar ammunition, he refused to be evacuated, advancing 500 yards until his left arm was blown off by shell fire. Refusing to be carried in a stretcher, which he said was needed for more severely wounded men, he walked two kilometers to the first-aid station.