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 Second Lieutenant (Field Artillery) Fred A. Tillman, United States Army Air Service, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 200th Squadron, French Air Service (Attached), U.S. Army Air Service, A.E.F., at Reims, France, 26 June 1918. Second Lieutenant Tillman aroused the admiration of all the French first-line infantrymen when making an infantry liaison west of Reims, France, 26 June 1918. He flew over the enemy lines at an altitude of only 50 meters, in spite of violent machine-gun and anti-aircraft fire. Shot down between the lines, with his plane riddled with bullets and his pilot severely wounded, he picked up his pilot in his arms and carried him through heavy fire more than 200 meters to the French first lines, after he himself was wounded in the neck.