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 James Roy Newman Weaver (ASN: 0-3100), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service to the government in a position of great responsibility from November, 1941, to August, 1945. As Commander of the Provisional Tank Group and Advisor on Mechanized Warfare to the Commander in Chief, United States Army Forces in the Far East at the outbreak of the war, he served with great distinction in the defense of Luzon against the Japanese invasion forces. Directing his tanks with outstanding tactical ability, he opposed the hostile lands in Lingayen Gulf and materially delayed the subsequent enemy drive down the central plain. On Bataan Peninsula he skillfully employed his units in repeatedly destroying enemy salients as well as crushing attempted enemy amphibious landings on the west coast. Reported missing in action after the fall of the Philippines in May, 1942, General Weaver was a prisoner of the Japanese Government in Formosa and later at Camp Hoten, Mukden, Manchuria where he was liberated in 1945. By his indomitable spirit and dynamic leadership against overwhelming odds, General Weaver played a notable part in the gallant defense of the Philippine Islands. While a prisoner of war, he bore with heroic fortitude the savage indignities and privations to which he was subjected by his Japanese captors and thereby upheld the highest tradition of the United States Army.