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 Captain (Infantry) Abner Hunter Platt, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 160th Machine-Gun Battalion, 27th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near St. Souplet, France, 17 October 1918. Captain Platt, while moving forward in the attack with machine-gun units, encountered a number of stragglers in a sunken road. He organized these men into a company and led them in attacking waves. Later he personally led a patrol which located and silenced enemy machine guns which were firing from a flank position.