WWI NUMBERED US DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS DSC

Beautiful condition WW1 Distinguished Service Cross numbered on the lower cross's arm 4720 and is in excellent condition including the original silk ribbon and wrapped brooch. Awarding history World War I During World War I, 6,309 awards of the Distinguished Service Cross were made to 6,185 recipients. Several dozen Army soldiers, as well as eight marines and two French Army officers, received two Distinguished Service Crosses. A handful, mostly Air Service aviators, were decorated three or more times. Eddie Rickenbacker, the top U.S. ace of the war, was awarded a record eight Distinguished Service Crosses, one of which was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor, while flying with the 94th Aero Squadron. Fellow aviators Douglas Campbell, also of the 94th, and Frank O'Driscoll "Monk" Hunter of the 103rd Aero Squadron each received five. Another 94th aviator, Reed McKinley Chambers, was awarded four Distinguished Service Crosses. Three aviators received three Distinguished Service Crosses – Murray K. Guthrie of the 13th Aero Squadron, Ralph A. O'Neill of the 147th Aero Squadron, and Glen A. Preston, an aerial observation pilot with the 99th Aero Squadron. Among other prominent aviators were Billy Mitchell, the Chief of Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force; Frank Luke of the 27th Aero Squadron, who was honored with the Medal of Honor and two Distinguished Service Crosses; and Sumner Sewall of the 95th Aero Squadron, recipient of two Distinguished Service Crosses, who served as Governor of Maine from 1941 to 1945. Edward Peck Curtis, also of the 95th Aero Squadron received the Distinguished Service Cross as a First Lieutenant. Colonel John H. Parker, the commander of the 102nd Infantry Regiment, 26th Division, was the only ground soldier in World War I to receive four Distinguished Service Crosses. First Lieutenant Oscar B. Nelson of the 168th Infantry Regiment, 42nd Division, was honored three times, the third award being posthumous. Several men who had previously received the Medal of Honor received the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I. Most notable of these was Marine legend Daniel Daly, who was twice decorated with the Medal of Honor, and who received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism as First Sergeant of the 73rd Company, Sixth Marine Regiment, during the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918. Col. Charles Evans Kilbourne, Jr., who received the Medal of Honor in the Philippine Insurrection, was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross as chief of staff of the 89th Division. James B. McConnell, also decorated with the Medal of Honor for actions in the Philippines as a private with the 33rd Infantry, received the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously as a first lieutenant with the 4th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division. Marine Colonel Hiram I. Bearss, recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Philippines, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross while attached to the 102nd Infantry Regiment, 26th Division. Marine Gunner Henry L. Hulbert, also a recipient of the Navy Medal of Honor in the Philippines, received the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery while serving with the Fifth Marine Regiment during the Battle of Belleau Wood. Spanish–American War Medal of Honor recipient John H. Quick also received the Distinguished Service Cross at Belleau Wood as Sergeant Major of the Sixth Marine Regiment. Besides Rickenbacker, several men received both the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross during World War I. Navy recipients were John Henry Balch, a U.S. Navy Pharmacist's Mate, and Joel T. Boone, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant (Medical Corps), both attached to the Sixth Marine Regiment. Army recipients were Private Daniel R. Edwards of the 3rd Machine-Gun Battalion, 1st Division, Colonel William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan of the 165th Infantry Regiment, 42nd Division, and Second Lieutenant Samuel I. Parker of the 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division. Two recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross during World War I went on to earn the Medal of Honor in World War II – Major (later Brigadier General) Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, son of the former President, and Brigadier General (later General of the Army) Douglas MacArthur of the 42nd Division. Other recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I who went on to acclaim in World War II include George S. Patton, Jr. and Carl Spaatz. Among other prominent recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross during World War I were Brigadier General John L. Hines, decorated as commanding general of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, and Major General Charles P. Summerall, decorated as commanding general of the 1st Division, who both went on to serve as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. Private Sam Ervin of the 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, went on to serve as a United States Senator from the state of North Carolina. Major Dwight F. Davis, decorated as Assistant Chief of Staff of the 69th Infantry Brigade, 35th Division, founded the Davis Cup international tennis competition and served as United States Secretary of War in the Coolidge Administration. Father John B. DeValles, chaplain (first lieutenant), known as the Angel of the Trenches for administering to the needs of both Allied and German soldiers. He founded the first Portuguese parochial school at the Espirito Santo Church in Fall River, Massachusetts. B. Caroll Reece, decorated as a First Lieutenant with the 102nd Infantry Regiment, 26th Division, went on to represent the state of Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives for a total of 17 terms. Twenty one African American soldiers from the 370th Infantry Regiment received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for action in both the Meuse–Argonne and Oise–Aisne campaigns.