Paperwork says D.S.C. yet recipient of Navy Cross during WW1

[Tonomachi]

I just bought a period post card of a Navy Cross recipient by the name of Jack Agraz who apparently as the person in charge of the USN Armed Guard aboard the S.S. Col. S. L. Drake successfully fought off an attacking submarine during WW1.  However some paperwork I found online shows a D.S.C. commendation which I'm guessing means Distinguished Service Cross.  I'm not an expert on medals but I thought the D.S.C. was an Army commendation not Navy.   Was this a clerical error of some kind or is there another explanation?

 

 

[Hermanus]

Maybe he got a British DSC in addition to his US Navy Cross. The British Distinguished Service Cross is a Navy award.

 

Regards 

Herman 

[Tonomachi]

On 11/8/2022 at 12:17 PM, Hermanus said:

Maybe he got a British DSC in addition to his US Navy Cross. The British Distinguished Service Cross is a Navy award.

 

Regards 

Herman 

Thanks for your input.  I thought that maybe the Navy Cross had not been instituted yet so the closest medal awarded for his actions on September 16, 1917 was the US Army's DSC.  However I just checked my reference and the DSC wasn't instituted until 1918 and the Navy Cross a year later in 1919.  I found another photograph of Jack Agraz who by this time had been promoted to Warrant Officer.

 

 

[stratasfan]

Here is a 1920 clipping that lists his DSC award:

 

 

 

 

[stratasfan]

Here is a very interesting obit that has a super cool story about him diving!

 

 

[stratasfan]

[stratasfan]

Wondering if the DSC actually is for "Distinguished Service Citation"? 

 

 

 

[Tonomachi]

12 hours ago, stratasfan said:

Wondering if the DSC actually is for "Distinguished Service Citation"?   

 

 

 

Many thanks for taking the time to locate these newspaper clippings.  In the clipping on Post 4 it mentions the Croix de Guerre awarded to one of the recipients which is a French award so Hermanus' theory that it could be a British Navy Distinguished Service Cross is plausible as well as your theory that it could stand for a Distinguished Service Citation.

[Hermanus]

Well, a British DSC was only awarded to officers, so the stratasfan explanation is a better explanation in my opinion.

 

Regards

Herman

 

[stratasfan]

Also . . . an awful lot of British medal rolls (like award cards) are available online and I couldn't get anything to pop. Also, I'd have guessed one article would have mentioned a British award. That's why I was looking so long in the newspapers. His submarine rescue diving record was reported a lot!

[Tonomachi]

Thanks for looking into this matter a little further.

[m1903]

Maybe a question of semantics, all the service crosses are for distinguished service, so perhaps the notation DSC ( Navy )  is meant to mean Navy Cross