Citation:

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Francis Ackley, Corporal, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Cunel, France, October 14, 1918.

After his company had suffered severe losses from an enemy machine gun, Corporal Ackley volunteered to silence it single-handed. Advancing from the flank, under heavy sniping fire, he surprised the crew, killed the three gunners with his pistol and then turned the machine gun on the enemy, covering the advance of his detachment to the position and inflicting several losses on the hostile troops.