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 Private Joseph E. Jerome, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism while serving with Company B, Replacement Battalion, A.E.F. (Siberia), in action at Vladivostok, Siberia, November 17 – 18, 1919. Private Jerome drove an automobile repeatedly through a zone swept by the fire of rifles, machine guns, and fieldpieces of contending Russian Government and insurgent troops, rescuing many noncombatants who were entrapped in the Vladivostok station between the lines, carrying them to places of safety, thus undoubtedly saving many lives.