The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Kenneth L. Johnson (ASN: 0-1319113), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company F, 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces in Germany, on 19 November 1944. When an early morning enemy counterattack of battalion strength pushed within fifty yards of his platoon’s defensive positions, First Lieutenant Johnson, at great personal risk, crawled over exposed terrain to personally direct the fire of his men. Shifting his troops to strengthen the hardest hit sectors, First Lieutenant Johnson, despite severe automatic weapons and small arms fire which covered the entire platoon area, succeeded in holding off the numerically superior force for an hour and a half. Subsequently, a breakthrough threatened to engulf both his platoon and company from the flank and rear. Voluntarily and with undiminished daring, he personally led a reserve force and, in a fierce bayonet charge followed by hand-to-hand fighting, succeeded in wiping out an entire enemy platoon. In a desperate attempt to reestablish contact with an adjoining platoon, he crossed seventy five yards of fire-swept terrain, manned an abandoned machine gun and was inflicting innumerable casualties upon the enemy ranks when he was mortally wounded by rifle fire. First Lieutenant Johnson’s coolness under fire, unflinching leadership and exemplary valor so inspired his men that a battalion of enemy infantrymen was destroyed. His extraordinary heroism, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty at the cost of his life, exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 1st Infantry Division, and the United States Army.