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 James H. Canney, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism while serving with Company D, 31st Infantry, American Expeditionary Forces (Siberia), in action in the lower Suchan Valley, Siberia, 5 July 1919. While in command of a patrol of three men, Sergeant Canney charged a body of about fifty of the enemy and put them to flight, killing one of the enemy.