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 Private Thomas P. O’Connor (ASN: 89678), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company C, 165th Infantry Regiment, 42d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Villers-sur-Fere, France, 31 July 1918. After his platoon had moved from an open field in the cover of the wood Private O’Connor returned to the field under heavy machine-gun fire to rescue a wounded comrade and was killed at the side of the man he tried to save.