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 Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry) Elliott Burwell Cheston (ASN: 0-31976), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Commanding Officer of the 3d Battalion, 319th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 6 and 7 September 1944, in France. During an attack by his battalion on Villey-le-Sec, a concrete fortress topped by a steel revolving turret and defended by many machine guns and one 75-mm. gun, he found his troops stopped by a concrete dry moat 12 feet wide and 20 feet deep. From a position on the left flank of his troops he ordered a withdrawal to covered positions and, remaining himself in his advanced position, personally directed machine-gun and artillery fire on the enemy. Without regard for his own safety, he stood erect, drawing the hostile fire on himself to allow his troops to reach safety before he finally withdrew with his command group. The next morning, in a renewed attack supported by tanks, he again advanced with his leading scouts, designated with tracer bullets, enemy machine-gun emplacements as targets for the tanks, and continued to lead his men in the successful storming of Fort Villey-le-Sec. Colonel Chelston’s leadership and heroic actions are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 80th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.