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 William F. Rockwell (ASN: 39674), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company G, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, south of Soissons, France; 18 July 1918. With John Rockwell, private; Jerome Buschmann, sergeant; Alfred Shimanoski, private; and Watzlaw Vinairsky, private, all of the same company, Private Rockwell distinguished himself by attacking a party of more than 60 Germans and, in an intense and desperate hand-to-hand fight, succeeded in killing 22 men and capturing 40 men and five machine-guns.