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Cleo Jepson Ross
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Crawford
County, Pennsylvania
World War I Hero |
1st Lieutenant Cleo Jepson Ross was born in Titusville to Edgar Milton Ross,
a popular longtime mail carrier, and Mary Alice Jepson. He attended Penn State University.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army when World War 1 began. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his service in the
U.S. Army 8th Balloon Company in France. He was killed on September 26, 1918, at age 22. He is buried in France at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Romagne.
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918,
takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant (Air Service) Cleo Jepson Ross,
United States Army Air Service, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 8th Balloon Squadron, U.S. Army Air Service, A.E.F.,
near Brabant, France, 26 September 1918. Lieutenant Ross was engaged in an important observation, regulating artillery fire,
when his balloon was attacked by enemy planes. One of the planes dived from a cloud and fired at the balloon, setting fire to it,
and although he could have jumped from the basket at once he refused to leave until his companion, a student observer, had jumped.
Lieutenant Ross then leaped, but it was too late, for the burning balloon dropped on his parachute. He was dashed to the ground from a height of 300 meters and killed instantly.
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