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 Captain (Signal Corps), [then First Lieutenant] Robert Dechert, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Headquarters, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Le Channel, France, July 23 – 25, 1918. When the attacking battalion had been held up by machine-gun fire, Captain Dechert, who was on duty as regimental signal officer, personally carried wire across an open field in full view of the enemy and established a telephone station within 200 yards of the front line. He then went forward under heavy shell fire to report to the battalion commander, and returning to the telephone kept it in operation for 24 hours under intense artillery and machine-gun fire.