JAMES C. ELLING, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his extraordinary heroism while serving as a Private First Class, with A. Company, 15th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division. On 30 March 1945, near Gross Heubach, Germany, when his company was halted on an open plain by blistering automatic and rifle fire, Private First Class Elling dashed forward alone in a reckless assault on the entire enemy force. Sprinting ninety-five yards into the hailstorm of enemy bullets, he knocked out a machine gun and its four-man crew with BAR fire, then charged into a nest of snipers and yanked nine cowering Germans from their foxholes. Finally, he crawled forty yards to strike a German strongpoint, killing or capturing a total of twenty-six enemy infantrymen.

Mr. Elling joined the Legion of Valor in 1979 and resided in California.