Robert L. Eichelberger’s FIRST Distinguished Service Cross citation

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 (General Staff Corps) Robert Lawrence Eichelberger (ASN: 0-2624), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism while serving on the General Staff Corps, A.E.F. (Siberia), in action in Siberia, from 28 June to 3 July 1919, while serving as assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, American Expeditionary Forces, Siberia. On 2 July 1919, after the capture by American troops of Novitskaya, an American platoon detailed to clear hostile patrols from a commanding ridge was halted by enemy enfilading fire, seriously wounding the members of the patrol. Colonel Eichelberger, without regard to his own safety and armed with a rifle, voluntarily covered the withdrawal of the platoon. On 28 June at the imminent danger of his own life, he entered the partisan lines and effected the release of one American officer and three enlisted men in exchange for a Russian prisoner. On 3 July an American column being fired upon when debouching from a mountain pass, Colonel Eichelberger voluntarily assisted in establishing the firing line, prevented confusion, and, by his total disregard for his own safety, raised the morale of the American forces to a high pitch.