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 Staff Sergeant Robert Dale Hopes (ASN: 13012657), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company H, 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces in Germany, on 17 October 1944. When the first light of dawn revealed five German tanks and forty infantrymen preparing to attack his positions, Staff Sergeant Hopes, despite intense machine gun, rifle, and tank fire, unhesitatingly opened fire with his machine gun upon the hostile group, killing or wounding all the foot troops and forcing the tanks to withdraw. In the face of heavy fire, he then made his way across open fire-swept ground to a house from which enemy snipers were firing. Fearlessly rising to his feet in full view of the foe, he fired several rifle grenades into the house, killing the hostile riflemen. The courageous actions of Staff Sergeant Hopes exemplify the highest traditions of the military service.