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 First Lieutenant (Infantry) Edmund P. Arpin, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Gesnes, France, 7 October 1918. First Lieutenant Arpin volunteered to lead and led a platoon of forty-one men in an attack on Hill 269. Although all but four became casualties, this small group, under the leadership of Lieutenant Arpin, continued on its mission, took the hill, and held it for some time without hope of reinforcements.