By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), Captain (Infantry), [then First Lieutenant] William E. Chickering, United States Army, is cited by the Commanding General, 3d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the World War I Victory Medals awarded him. While serving with the 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, Captain Chickering swam the Marne River under heavy shell fire on the morning of 18 July 1918, in open daylight, to gather important information from a French patrol. He, on 23 July 1918, at Le Theodore Ferme, led a section of machine guns, under heavy machine gun and artillery fire, about 900 meters in advance of his own infantry and took over and held until relief arrived, ground north of Le Theodore Ferme which had been lost by a French regiment.