The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest U.S. honor awarded to veterans. The Crosses usually are awarded to those who continued fighting though they were wounded severely, were against overwhelming odds, or saved a fellow soldier when it was thought impossible to save him. Eight of these awards were given to people who lived on the Montana Hi-Line, and of those eight, five were from Phillips County.
Private Clifford M. Jordan was one of those five. Clifford was from Malta and was deployed to France, like many other soldiers. He was given a Cross because of his heroic actions in saving a wounded soldier by carrying him a distance of one kilometer under intense machine gun and artillery fire.
Sargent Arthur Aamot, who was a private at the time of his heroic act, was from the small town of Saco. He received the Cross for “leaving his shelter” and “proceed[ing] through the fire to the tank where he found a wounded man, whom he courageously carried to safety.”
Not all of those awarded were privates; in fact, some were officers, like Lt. Clayton Evans Snyder, who came from Malta. He stayed with his men and fought on the front lines with them despite being wounded. He and his men were able to find several machine guns that were aiming at his platoon. He then proceeded to direct the fire of his men with such accuracy that the guns were silenced.
Some of the men that were awarded with Distinguished Service Crosses stayed with their company, platoon, squad, etc. until the battle was over. One such example is Private Herman Wallenmaier, who was from Valleytown. Wallenmaier stayed with his company, even though he was wounded and was losing blood. In fact, the private was losing so much blood that his commanding officer had to order him off the field to see a medic.
Another man in a similar situation was Private George Whitcomb from Malta. Whitcomb was awarded a Cross because he refused to be evacuated, even though he was seriously wounded. He went under heavy artillery and machine gun fire to other gun crews to recruit men to his gun, which enabled an important gun to remain in action.
By Jacob Bland
Wood, Richard D., comp. “Good-Bye Malta-Hello France”: The Great War Comes to Phillips County, Montana, 1916-1920. Malta Enterprise, 2009.