The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant Colonel (Medical Corps) Harlow Brooks, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, as Medical Consultant to the First Army and later as Chief Medical Consultant of the Second Army, by the application of principles of prevention and treatment which resulted in a marked reduction in the complications and mortality of influenza and other epidemic diseases and lessened the strain on the evacuation service already overtaxed by battle casualties, through early segregation and hospitalization within the front areas. After the armistice, Colonel Brooks, in addition to these duties, was placed in charge of all hospitals of the Second Army, where, by reorganizing the hospital service and establishing courses of instruction and clinical conferences for medical officers, he largely contributed to the betterment of the medical service of the Second Army with a consequent saving of the lives of many American and French soldiers.