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) Mahlon Henry Harris, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 312th Infantry Regiment, 78th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Grand Pre, France, 26 October 1918. During the assault on the citadel Lieutenant Harris gallantly led his company through heavy enemy fire. Learning that the adjoining company had met with extraordinarily heavy machine-gun fire which had killed all of its officers and was holding up the company, he, of his own volition, passed through deadly fire, reorganized this adjoining company and led it, with his own, to the objective. This officer was among the first to scale the wall of the citadel.