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 Captain (Infantry) Charles David Edmonson, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Headquarters, 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces in the vicinity of Ostiglia, Italy, on 23 April 1945. Captain Edmonson’s regiment was driving for the important Milan highway center on 23 April 1945, when preliminary reconnaissance showed that both rail and motor bridges had been destroyed by aerial bombing and demolition. Accurate partisan information disclosed that a large force of storm troops, one part of Field Marshall Kesselring’s personal bodyguard, occupied strong, fixed defenses on the Po River’s north bank. Having participated in the preliminary reconnaissance as Regimental Intelligence Officer, Captain Edmonson was convinced that picked men could cross the river on the smashed railroad bridge and secure it for passage of a rifle company later. He volunteered to make the initial crossing with a picked Ranger group consisting of two officers and 16 enlisted men. Although the bridge was visible to the Germans for 1,000 yards up and down stream, and the preliminary scouting had drawn machinegun and 20-mm. cannon fire, Captain Edmonson led his soldiers in a dash into the undestroyed part of the bridge. The Germans opened fire with machine guns and cannon fire, wounding three men. Determined that a hand grip was necessary if his men were to cross the gap of rapid current without being carried away, Captain Edmonson crawled back for a 100-foot rope and returned to the break in the trestle. He spotted his Rangers behind steel girders to return fire, tired one end of the rope to a girder and swung himself down into the swirling water, thus becoming a target for every German gun within range. He found footing on a manion beam and inched forward through waist-deep water, tying the rope on protecting girders. German automatic fire churned the water around him as he reached the middle of the break and twice was forced to seek protection under water from the storm of bullets. A ricocheting machine gun slug struck him in the hip as he climbed through a tangle of steel cables 60 feet from his goal. Despite the painful wound, Captain Edmonson lunged for the lower rung of the 30-foot steel ladder to tie the final knot and close the gap across the Po River. Up the ladder he crawled, his body a perfect target in silhouette, until he reached a firing position behind a steel beam alongside the railroad track. He crept forward to clean out two German machinegun nests with his carbine, killing one German and wounding three more, and made it possible for the remaining Rangers to cross the cap in the bridge. Establishing a small bridgehead along the levee, Captain Edmonson crouched over a radio in full view of the enemy to call for and adjust artillery fire on the enemy side of the levee, just yards away. He next led an attack on a nearby machinegun nest, eliminated it, and went on to clear two fortified houses of Germany riflemen. From the top floors, the Rangers used small arms and grenade fire to force 17 Germans to abandon three 20-mm. guns and flee to a nearby cave, leaving two German dead and eight wounded in the gun pits. Captain Edmonson rushed the entrance of the cave, firing his carbine as he ran, wounding one German and forcing all 17 to surrender. As a result of these actions, a reinforced company was able to cross the Po River, expand the bridgehead and open the path for powerful American forces driving on Verona. Captain Edmonson’s outstanding leadership, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 88th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.