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 Kimon Karelis (ASN: 794855), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company C, 15th Machine-Gun Battalion, 5th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Vieville-en-Haye, France, September 12 – 13, 1918. After he was severely wounded and his squad leader killed, Private Karelis took charge of the squad and directed their fire with such telling effect that three machine-guns which had caused many casualties in our ranks were put out of action. In the counterattack which followed, he personally manned the machine gun after the other members of the crew had been killed or wounded, and continued to operate it until completely exhausted.