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 Harold J. Drotning (ASN: 2302303), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Battery A, 125th Field Artillery, 32d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near St. Gilles, south of Fismes, France, 4 August 1918. When the men of his battery position had been ordered to shelter on account of enemy shelling, Private Drotning, in company with two other men, rescued a French soldier from drowning in a stream. This act was performed while the valley was filled with mustard gas.