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 Brigadier General Amos Alfred Fries, 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 Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, General Fries was charged with the important task of training and equipping our troops for a form of warfare in which the American Army had had no experience prior to the present war. Both in securing proper defensive measures against gas and in developing new methods for its use as an offensive agency, he performed his arduous duties with marked success, thereby rendering valuable services to the American Expeditionary Forces.