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 Corporal Walter S. Sevalia (ASN: 915300), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company F, 7th Engineers, 5th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Brieulles, France, 3 November 1918. Corporal Sevalia swam the Meuse River with a cable for a pontoon bridge, under direct machine-gun fire. Later he carried a cable for another bridge over the Est Canal, across an open field covered by enemy machine-guns. Here he was wounded by a machine-gun bullet, but returned carrying a message of great importance.