NELSEN, ADOLPH
Recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross 
Private, U.S. Army
Company H, 131st Infantry Regiment, 33d Division, A.E.F.
Home: Iowa
Date of Action: August 9, 1918
General Orders 81, W.D., 1919

Citation: (From the Arlington National Cemetery Website)
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Adolph Nelsen, Private, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Chipilly Ridge, France, August 9, 1918. Although severely wounded, Private Nelsen, on his own initiative, went out in advance of his lines, armed with an automatic rifle, and mopped up a machine-gun nest in which there were three guns. He killed four of the enemy crew and brought the other two Germans back as prisoners. He set an example of heroism and devotion to duty, performing this service under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire.

After the war, on November 11, 1921, he was selected by Governor Kendall as one of three men to represent the State of Iowa to attend the memorial rites at the burial of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery, Washington DC.

Mr. Nelsen was a life-time member of the American Legion Post # 0462 in Soldier IA.

Nelsen, Adolph (2152402), Private, Company H, 131st Infantry, 33rd Division, WW I, Feb 25, 1918 to June 1, 1919. 

Adolph's obituary as reprinted in the Monona County History:

Adolph Nelsen, eldest son of John and Martha Ulven Nelsen was born January 19, 1895 at their farm near Soldier Iowa. He served in the US Army Infantry during WW I. After returning from service, he re-engaged in farming the homestead.

On October 14, 1925, he was united in marriage to Alta Thoreson. She, the eldest daughter of Carl and Minnie Evenson Thoreson, was born February 21, 1903. To this Union, three sons and four daughters were born.

He entered the Hines Hospital, Chicago, Illinois on January 4, 1944, for major surgery on February 24. Due to wounds he had received in military service, he had developed a brain tumor. He retired from farming November 1944 and moved into the town of Soldier. Because of failing health, he entered the Veteran's Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska on March 14, 1957. He remained there until his death, Saturday, December 13, 1958. Interment was in the Soldier Valley Lutheran Church Cemetery, Soldier, IA.

Left to mourn his departure are his wife and their children - Ione Jean, Aimsel Maynard, Clarion Elliot, Yvonne Myrtle, John Carl, Annette Karen, Gloria Jane.