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 First Class Morris A. Banister (ASN: 1210112), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company C, 107th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, at Mount Kemmel, Belgium, on the night of 17 August 1918. While engaged with a working party in the repair of the communicating trenches, Private First Class Banister voluntarily went to the rescue of a British ration party which had been struck by a high-explosive shell. Under concentrated machine-gun and rifle fire and continuous shell fire he assisted in carrying the British wounded for a distance of 125 yards while fully exposed to enemy fire and utterly without regard for his own safety.