The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Corporal Melvin B. Johnson (ASN: 84054), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company M, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Gesnes, France, 19 October 1918. When his battalion was held up after suffering heavy casualties from flanking machine-gun fire, Corporal Johnson went out alone with an automatic rifle, to a position 250 yards in advance of our lines, and, although subjected to intense fire from three directions, operated his gun and so neutralized the enemy fire while his battalion reformed. He was killed on this mission, undertaken on his own initiative.