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 Jay C. Pritchard (ASN: 306803), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company D, 14th Machine-Gun Battalion, 5th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Thiaucourt, France, 12 September 1918. Though he was greatly fatigued from walking 30 kilometers in an effort to locate his company from which he had become separated, Sergeant Pritchard organized a squad of men, who had also become separated from their organizations, and, advancing with them for more than nine kilometers, took up a position in advance of the infantry and directed effective machine-gun fire against the enemy, breaking up a hostile counterattack, until an enemy shell demolished the gun. Though he was severely wounded, and suffering much pain, he conducted his squad back to Thiaucourt before permitting himself to be evacuated.