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 Mechanic Hedford West (ASN: 1449786), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company M, 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Montrebeau Woods, France, 29 September 1918. Seeing a comrade lying wounded in advance of our lines, Mechanic West left a shell hole and exposing himself to heavy machine-gun fire, went into the open, and assisted by another soldier, carried the wounded man back to safety.