Navy Federal Credit Union

William F. Rockwell and his younger brother John Charles Rockwell, serving together in the same company, earned Distinguished Service Crosses on the same day in World War I. William Rockwell was killed in action three months later.

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Service Cross

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    Private

    Regiment:

    9th Infantry Regiment

    Division:

    2d Division, American Expeditionary Forces

    Action Date:

    July 18, 1918

    War Department, General Orders No. 20 (1919)

    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 John Charles Rockwell (ASN: 39672), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company G, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, south of Soissons, France, 18 July 1918. With Jerome Buschmann, private; William F. Rockwell, private; Alfred Shimanoski, private, and Watzlaw Viniarsky, private, all of the same company, Private Rockwell distinguished himself by attacking a party of more than 60 Germans and, in an intense and desperate hand-to-hand fight, succeeded in killing 22 men and capturing 40 men and five machine-guns.