IAGenWeb.org Iowa in the Great War

Distinguished Service Cross Recipients

About the Distinguished Service Cross

Appanoose County

   
      Bernard Nelson, sergeant, Company D, 168th Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Landres et-St. George, France, October 14, 1918. During the attack on Hill 288, when the assault wave was held up by machine gun fire. Sergt. Nelson volunteered and led two squads to silence these guns. He cut his way through strong barbed wire entanglements, advanced up a very steep slope in the face of direct machine gun fire, entered the trench, and killed or wounded the entire crews of the two guns, making it possible for the battalion to advance.

Residence at enlistment: Centerville, Iowa (Appanoose co.)
 
   

 

~source: Official Register, State of Iowa 1921-1922, Twenty-Ninth Number, Military Decorations of Iowans in the World War, pg. 360-376

~ Transcribed and contributed by Sharyl Ferrall for Iowa in the Great War Special Project