USA, WW1 & WW2 - Distinguished Service Cross Group

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Captain Birtrus H. Kemmerer. Troop A. Montana Cavalry. Mexican Army. Company H. 139th infantry Regiment. 35th Infantry Division. 120th Ordnance Company. Oklahoma National Guard. 45th Infantry Division. U.S. Army. Distinguished Service Cross (wrap brooch. impressed: 14402; machine engraved: Birtrus Kemmerer); Purple Heart (type 4, slot brooch, raised plastic heart, machine engraved: Birtrus Kemmerer); Mexican Border Service Medal (wrap brooch, ring suspension, impressed: 39559): World War I Victory Medal. three Bars. "Defensive Sector," "Meuse-Argonne." "St. Mihiel" (wrap brooch); American Defense Service Medal (slot brooch, knob suspension); World War II Victory Medal (slot brooch); French Verdun Medal.

Distinguished Service Cross. General Orders 959, War Department. 1919. "Near Baulny, France, September 26. 1915, seeing his Battalion Adjutant lying wounded several yards in front of our line and in great danger from heavy machine gun and rifle fire. Private Kemmerer, with a total disregard for personal danger, went to the assistance of this officer and succeeded in carrying him to safety. This gallant soldier was himself wounded while performing this heroic act."

Captain Kemmerer was born during 1903 and left home in 1914. During 1916-17, while only 13 years of age, he enlisted in the Montana Cavalry, serving in Troop A on the Mexican Border. Kemmerer was discharged at Douglas, Arizona, on February 3, 1917. He briefly joined General Carranza's Army in Mexico, serving at Nacazora, Hermisillo, and the State of Chauhuahua. Kemmerer returned to the United States on April 6, 1917, when war was declared against Germany. Kemmerer joined the 35th Infantry Division, and he served in the 139th Infantry Regiment in England, France, and Germany. Kemmerer participated in the: Saint-Mihiel Offensive: Meuse-Argonne Offensive; Defensive Sector; and Defense of Verdun, and he was wounded in action and gassed. During 1940, Kemmerer was commissioned in the Oklahoma National Guard as Captain of the 120th Ordnance Company. Kemmerer was serving in the 45th Infantry Division, when he was released from active duty during 1942. Kemmerer then went to Washington, D.C., and became a newspaper reporter for the Washington Post. Sold with photo-copy of American Expeditionary Force Distinguished Service Cross Certificate (inscribed: Corporal Burtrus Kemmerer, Company H, 139th Infantry, Baulny, France, 2 September, 1915 - awarded March 30. - 1919. No. 4366): photo-copy of Presidential Wounded in Action Certificate (inscribed: Birtrus Kemmerer, Pvt. 1st Cl., Co. H. 139th Inf.); photo-copy of Presidential Veterans Memorial Certificate (Richard Nixon issue): official copies of Mexican Border and World War I service records and discharges; 1950's resume: rank insignia: two pocket diaries; and some research.