The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Private Ross E. Read (ASN: 155611), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company D, 1st Engineers, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Cantigny, France, 28 May 1918. Private Read voluntarily went forward over an area swept by machine-gun fire to the aid of a wounded comrade, who was entangled in barbed wire. He worked in a perilously exposed position until he extricated his companion and carried him to safety.