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 Sergeant Bernard Nelson (ASN: 100595), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company D, 168th Infantry Regiment, 42d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Landres St. Georges, France, 14 October 1918. During the attack on Hill 288, when the assault wave was held up by intense machine-gun fire, Sergeant Nelson volunteered and led two squads to silence these guns. He cut his way through strong barbed-wire entanglements, advanced up a very steep slope in the face of direct machine-gun fire, entered the trench, and killed or wounded the entire crews of the two guns, making it possible for the battalion to advance.