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 First Lieutenant (Infantry) John Francis Williams, Jr., United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Ypres, Belgium, 2 August 1918. First Lieutenant Williams volunteered to destroy an enemy pillbox which had caused many casualties in his battalion. With much skill and daring he led a daylight patrol, under heavy shell and machine-gun fire, rushed the pillbox, killed or wounded the occupants, and accomplished, his mission.