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 (Air Service) Percy Rivington Pyne, United States Army Air Service, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 103d Aero Squadron, 3d Pursuit Group, U.S. Army Air Service, A.E.F., near Dun-sur-Meuse, France, 23 October 1918. While protecting three planes on a photographic mission, Lieutenant Pyne attacked and drove off five enemy machines (type Fokker). Later another German formation of seven (type Fokker) was encountered, but despite the odds Lieutenant Pyne swung up into the midst of the enemy and scattered them, diving on one of the Fokkers and sending it crashing to the ground.