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 Sergeant Edward E. King (ASN: 44351), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company M, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Fleville, France, 4 October 1918. Assuming command of his company after the company commander had been wounded, Sergeant King reinforced it with remnants of other units, leading the entire command through perilous machine-gun and artillery fire to his objective. After having consolidated his position, he led a volunteer patrol against several machine-gun nests, which were harassing the position. Under violent fire from these guns, he cleaned out the troublesome nests, with small losses to his forces.