The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Sergeant William Harpine Bowman, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism while serving with Company B, 399th Infantry, 85th Division (Detachment in North Russia), in action near Tulgas, Russia, 12 November 1918, and on 1 March 1919. During the engagement at Tulgas, rather than order any of his men to take the risk, Sergeant Bowman personally delivered a message over a road torn and swept by machine-gun and shell fire. On 1 March 1919, when knee-deep in snow, and after he had been exposed for almost three hours to a temperature below zero and to enemy fire, he was mortally wounded while passing down the firing line in an heroic effort to keep up the spirits of his men.