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 [then Private] Louis Herman Witte (ASN: 274172), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company F, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32d Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Roncheres, France, 30 July 1918. When all the other members of his automatic rifle squad had been killed or wounded Sergeant Witte took the dead gunner’s automatic rifle and kept it in action against the enemy. Considerable enemy machine-gun fire was thereby drawn upon his and he was wounded, but he nevertheless continued to maintain an effective fire while the remainder of his company was withdrawing. He remained at his post firing until the entire company had withdrawn.