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 Elmo Roland Cornell (ASN: 53940), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company G, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Soissons, France, 19 July 1918. Corporal Cornell led an automatic rifle squad until all his men had been killed or wounded, and then alone, from a farther advanced position, silenced the machine gun which had decimated his command.