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 First Lieutenant (Infantry) Walter R. Flannery, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Sauvigny, France, 3 June 1918. At great peril to his life on the night of June, 1918, First Lieutenant Flannery voluntarily swam the River Marne, near Sauvigny, France, and brought back a wounded French soldier, who, having escaped from his German captors, was unable to return to his own lines.