Alvin York

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Alvin Cullum York
December 13, 1887 - September 2, 1964
Sergeant Alvin York
Nickname	"Sergeant York"
Place of birth	Pall Mall, Tennessee
Place of death	Nashville, Tennessee
Allegiance	U.S. Army
Unit	82nd Infantry Division
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Medal of Honor Legion of Honor Croix de Guerre Croce di Guerra War medal (Montenegero)

Alvin Cullum York (December 13, 1887 – September 2, 1964) was a United States soldier, famous for his heroism in World War I. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, killing 25 German soldiers and capturing 132 others.

From York's Medal of Honor Citation: "The Argonne Forest, France, 8 October 1918. After his platoon suffered heavy casualties, Alvin York assumed command. Fearlessly leading 7 men, he charged with great daring a machine gun nest which was pouring deadly and incessant fire upon his platoon. In this heroic feat the machine gun nest was taken, together with 4 German officers and 128 men and several guns."

Contents 1 Early life 2 World War I 3 Medal of Honor citation 4 Post war life 5 Legacy 6 Notes 7 External links

[edit] Early life

York was born in Pall Mall, Tennessee in the Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf, the third of eleven children born to William York and Mary Elizabeth York, née Brooks. As was typical of the area and times, his family subsisted by farming and hunting. As a result, young Alvin became an expert marksman in the area woods. When Alvin’s father died in 1911, he rejected Christianity. As he stated in his diary "I got in bad company and I broke off from my mother's and father's advice and got to drinking and gambling and playing up right smart…I used to drink a lot of Moonshine. I used to gamble my wages away week after week. I used to stay out late at nights. I had a powerful lot of fistfights."

On 2 January 1915, Alvin attended a revival meeting conducted by Reverend H.H. Russell where he experienced a religious conversion. This conversion led him to file as a conscientious objector at the start of World War I. According to York's diary,^[1] his mother and his pastor filed the application for conscientious objector status on York's behalf.

[edit] World War I

"The Argonne Forest, France, 8 October 1918. After his platoon suffered heavy casualties, Alvin York assumed command. Fearlessly leading 7 men, he charged with great daring a machine gun nest which was pouring deadly and incessant fire upon his platoon. In this heroic feat the machine-gun nest was taken, together with 4 German officers and 128 men and several guns,"

(Extract from York's Medal of Honor Citation)

York eventually was drafted into the United States Army and assigned to the 82nd Infantry Division in 1917.

When York received his draft notice, he wanted to serve his country, but, as a new Christian, he hesitated to join the army because the violence of war troubled him. After spending two days in prayer on a mountain near his home, however, York told his family, "I'm going" and enlisted in the army.

As a corporal in the 2nd battalion, 328th Infantry, in the Battle of Meuse River-Argonne Forest on 8 October 1918, he assumed command of his detachment after three other NCOs fell. York’s battalion’s mission was to take the German Decauville Rail-line and sever it. Taking the railroad was vital since it would sever lateral support and communications behind the German lines and open the way for a broader Allied attack. The line of attack took the 328th up a funnel shaped valley, which became narrower as they advanced. On each side and the far side of the valley were steep ridges, occupied by German machine gun emplacements and infantry troops. As the Americans advanced up the valley, it encountered intense German machine gun fires from the left and right flanks and the front. Soon, heavy artillery poured in upon the beleaguered Regiment, compelling the American attack to stall. The Americans were caught in a deadly cross-fire. As York recollected:

“The Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldn’t tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from…And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our attack just faded out… And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard.”

The blistering German fire took a heavy toll on the regiment with the survivors seeking cover wherever they could find it. Something had to be done to silence the German machine guns. Sergeant Bernard Early was ordered to take three squads of men (which included York’s squad) to get behind the German entrenchments to take out the machine guns. They successfully worked their way behind the German positions and quickly overran the headquarters of a German unit, capturing a large group of German soldiers who were preparing to counter-attack against the US troops.

Early’s men were contending with the prisoners when machine gun fire suddenly peppered the area, killing six Americans and wounding three others. The fire came from German machine guns on the ridge, which turned their weapons on the US soldiers. The loss of the nine put Corporal York in charge of the eight remaining US soldiers. As his men remained under cover, and guarding the prisoners, York worked his way into position to silence the German machine guns.

"And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a 'racket in all of your life. I didn't have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush... As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp shooting. I don't think I missed a shot. It was no time to miss… All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had." Sergeant Alvin York

One of York’s prisoners, a First Lieutenant Vollmer, emptied his pistol trying to kill York (while York was contending with the machine guns). Failing to injure York, and seeing his mounting loses; he offered to surrender the unit to York, which was gladly accepted. By the end of the engagement, York and his seven men marched 132 German prisoners back to the American lines. His actions silenced the German machine guns and were responsible for enabling the 328th Infantry Regiment to renew the offensive to capture the Decauville Railroad.

The fact York deserves credit for his heroism is without question. York saved his battalion from destruction by his actions which resulted in the silencing of thirty-five machine guns and the capture of 132 German prisoners from the 120th and 125th Wurttemberg regiments, the 7th Bavarian Mining Company and the 210th Prussian Reserve Regiment.

The evidence supporting York's actions is overwhelming. In October 2006, a team of military experts and researchers found all 21 of the cartridges fired by York - in the exact location where both the German and American records said the events transpired. *Photos and details of the discovery of the site where SGT. York earned the Medal of Honor.*Alvin York and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Initially, York's chain of command honored this accomplishment by awarding him the Distinguished Service Cross. France, whose forces he was directly aiding and whose territory was involved, added its Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor. Italy and Montenegro, also allies, awarded him their Croce di Guerra and War Medal, respectively. The Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, which was presented to York by the commanding general of the American Expeditionary Force, John J. Pershing.

At the time of his heroics, York was in fact still a corporal. His promotion to sergeant was part of the honor for his valor but resulted in his becoming known to the United States (and much of the world) as "Sergeant York".

How did York accomplish such a feat? A conversation between Sergeant York and his Division Commander, General Lindsey, in January 1919 when they toured the site where York captured 132 Germans three months earlier reveals Alvin's thought about this:

General Lindsey: "York, how did you do it?"

Alvin York: "Sir, it is not man power. A higher power than man power guided and watched over me and told me what to do." And the general bowed his head and put his hand on my shoulder and solemnly said”

General Lindsay: "York, you are right."

Alvin York: “There can be no doubt in the world of the fact of the divine power being in that. No other power under heaven could bring a man out of a place like that. Men were killed on both sides of me; and I was the biggest and the most exposed of all. Over thirty machine guns were maintaining rapid fire at me, point-blank from a range of about twenty-five yards. When you have God behind you, you can come out on top every time.”

(portions of the above is taken from an extract of a book being written by Army LTC Mastriano, on York's character - used by permission).

[edit] Medal of Honor citation

• Rank: Corporal, U.S. Army
• Organization: Company G, 328th Infantry, 82d Division.
• Place: Near Chatel-Chehery, France
• Date: 8 October 1918.
• Entered service at: Pall Mall, Tennessee
• Order: No.: 59, W.D., 1919

Citation reads: After his platoon had suffered heavy casualties and 3 other noncommissioned officers had become casualties, Cpl. York assumed command. Fearlessly leading 7 men, he charged with great daring a machine gun nest which was pouring deadly and incessant fire upon his platoon. In this heroic feat the machine gun nest was taken, together with 4 officers and 462 men and several guns.

[edit] Post war life

On June 7, 1919, Alvin York married Gracie Williams when he was 32 years old and she was 18 years old. They had seven children together 5 daughters and 2 sons. One of York's sons Andrew York works as a park ranger in the agriculture institute in Jamestown, Tennessee. Returning home as a war hero, York founded a private agricultural institute in Jamestown, Tennessee, near his home community of Pall Mall. The Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute never thrived under his management and was eventually turned over to the State of Tennessee. It still serves as the public high school for the northern part of Fentress County, Tennessee despite being operated by the State Department of Education; theoretically any qualified high school student from any part of Tennessee can attend school there in order to study agriculture, but in practice almost all of the students are from the immediate area.

York later operated a mill in Pall Mall on the Wolf River which is today part of a state park (His son, Andrew York, serves as a park ranger there).

In gratitude for his accomplishments, the state of Tennessee provided him with a white frame house near the mill. (York's daughter-in-law, who still works at his house/museum, clarified the state guaranteed a loan for the house, which York had to repay.) The house still stands near U.S. Highway 127, which is appropriately named Alvin C. York Highway (commonly referred to as York Highway) where it runs through Fentress County.

Alvin York died at the Veterans Hospital in Nashville, TN on September 2, 1964, of a cerebral hemorrhage and was buried at the Wolf River Cemetery in Pall Mall, TN.

[edit] Legacy

York's life story was told in the 1941 movie Sergeant York, with Gary Cooper portraying the title role. York refused to authorize a film version of his life story unless he received a contractual guarantee that Cooper would be the actor to portray him

In the 1980s, the United States Army named its DIVAD weapon system "Sergeant York"; the project was cancelled due to technical problems and massive cost overruns.

On May 5, 2000, the United States Postal Service issued the Distinguished Soldiers stamps, in which York was honored.

Laura Cantrell's song "Old Downtown" mentions York in depth.

The riderless horse in the funeral procession of President Ronald Reagan was named Sergeant York.

The 82nd Airborne Division's movie theater at Fort Bragg, North Carolina is named York Theater.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ York, Alvin. Sergeant York, his own life story and war diary. Doubleday, Doran, 1928

Sources used on the above article. From sources in both the USA and Europe:

 Alvin York’s Medal of Honor citation
 Extracted from York’s Medal of Honor Citation.
 Richard Wheeler, ed., Sergeant York and the Great War (Mantle Ministries; Bulverde, TX, 1998) 154-155.
 The Diary of Alvin York, 18 October 2001 at http://acacia.pair.com/Acacia.Vignettes/The.Diary.of.Alvin.York.html
 The Diary of SGT York, 18 October 2001 at http://volweb.utk.edu/school/York/diary.html  
 Alice Trulock, In the Hands of Providence, (University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 340.
 Interview with Colonel Gerald York, grandson of Alvin York, in April 1996.  
 Richard Wheeler, ed., Sergeant York and the Great War (Mantle Ministries; Bulverde, TX, 1998) 58-60.
 Matthew 25:21
 Trulock, 143.
 Romans 13.
 Wheeler, 68.
 Wheeler, 72.
 http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/York/biography.html Alvin C. York by Gladys Williams
 Wheeler, 79-82.  
 Wheeler, 81-82.
 Matthew 5:13-16.
 Dr. Gustav Strohm, Die Württembergishchen Regimenter im Weltkrieg 1914-1918
 Das Württembergishche Landwehr Infanterie Regiment (Belser Verlasbuchhandklung; 1922)
 Baden-Württemberg Hauptstaatsarchiv I Landwehr Regiment Kriegstagebuch
 Baden-Württemberg Hauptstaatsarchiv - II Landwehr Regiment Kriegstagebuch
 Baden-Württemberg Hauptstaatsarchiv - III Landwehr Regiment Kriegstagebuch
 Baden-Württemberg Hauptstaatsarchiv Kriegsrangeliste
 York, Alvin, Sergeant York:  His Own Life Story and War Diary,  Garden City, NY:  Doubleday, Doran, 1928.
 Baden-Württemberg Hauptstaatsarchiv, Landwehr Regiment Kriegstagebuch
 Baden-Württemberg Hauptstaatsarchiv I.5 Landwehr Regiment Kriegstagebuch
 Baden-Württemberg Hauptstaatsarchiv, II.5 Landwehr Regiment Kriegstagebuch

[edit] External links

• "The Diary of Alvin York" by Alvin C. York
• Church of Christ in Christian Union
• Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation site
• Alvin C. York Citation: Congressional Medal of Honor Society
• Medal of Honor Recipients on Film: Alvin Cullum York
• Photograph; Selective Service Registration Card - US National Archives
• Sergeant York And His People, by Sam Cowan, 1922, from Project Gutenberg
• Alvin York and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, by Douglas Mastriano, Military History magazine, Sept 2006.
  (Corporal York's actions as seen from the German perspective.)
• Photos and details of the discovery of the site where SGT. York earned the Medal of Honor, Discovered 21 October 2006 by the Sergeant York Discovery Expedition.
• International Herald Tribune article announcing the discovery of where York earned the Medal of Honor.