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 First Lieutenant (Infantry) Francis Reed Austin, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Haumont, France, 11 November 1918. First Lieutenant Austin led a platoon of machine guns and two 1-pounder guns with their crews under cover of a fog within the enemy’s wire and attacked at close range a strong point held by twenty-five men and ten machine-guns. After this position had been reduced, concentrated machine-gun fire from the ranks forced Lieutenant Austin and his party to withdraw. Exposing himself in order to place his men under cover, he was mortally wounded, but he directed the dressing of the wounds of his men and their evacuation before he would accept any aid for himself. He died a few hours later.