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 Corporal Joseph William Slate (ASN: 198864), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company C, 2d Field Signal Battalion, 1st Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Exermont, France, October 2 – 11, 1918. Corporal Slate volunteered and maintained a telephone line which ran through thick undergrowth and barbed-wire entanglements to an advanced observation post. Despite heavy artillery and direct machine-gun fire, Corporal Slate kept the line in operation for many hours without relief.