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) William J. Potter, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 361st Infantry Regiment, 91st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Eclisfontaine, France, 28 September 1918. After being painfully wounded by a shell fragment during the night, Captain Potter refused to go to the rear and organized his company for an attack and led it in the advance under heavy machine-gun and artillery fire, freely exposing himself and cheering his men by his presence until he was a second time wounded through the lungs, even then refusing to be evacuated until the company was organized and properly turned over to his successor for another attack which was then impending.