The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Sgt. Alvin C. York - Mar 1st, 2004

www.alvincyork.org ^ | Dr. Michael Birdwell

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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Sgt. Alvin Cullum York
(1887 - 1964)

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Known as the greatest hero of World War I, York avoided profiting from his war record before 1939. Born December 13, 1887 in a two-room dogtrot log cabin in Pall Mall, Tennessee, and raised in a rural backwater in the northern section of Fentress County, York was a semi-skilled laborer when drafted in 1917. Quite literally having never traveled more than fifty miles from his home, York's war experience served as an epiphany awakening him to a more complex world.

Sgt. York Wearing Medal of Honor

The third oldest of a family of eleven children, the York family eked out a hardscrabble existence of subsistence farming supplemented by hunting, and York became a competent marksman at an early age. Living in a region that saw little need for education, York had a grand total of nine-months schooling at a subscription school he attended in his youth. York's father, William York (who died in 1911), also acted as a part time blacksmith to provide some extra income for the family. Prior to the advent of the World War, York was employed as a day laborer on the railroad near Harriman. As a result, York had little experience with managing money and later suffered from chronic fiscal problems. (York spent money when he had it, gave it away to other people who he believed needed it, and invested poorly).

As York came of age he earned a reputation as a deadly accurate shot and a hell raiser. Drinking and gambling in borderline bars known as "Blind Tigers," York was generally considered a nuisance and someone who "would never amount to anything." That reputation underwent a serious overhaul when York experienced a religious conversion in 1914. In that year two significant events occurred: his best friend, Everett Delk, was killed in a bar fight in Static, Kentucky; and he attended a revival conducted by H.H. Russell of the Church of Christ in Christian Union. Delk's senseless death convinced York that he needed to change his ways or suffer a fate similar to his fallen comrade, which prompted him to attend the prayer meeting.


The York family, 1900

A strict fundamentalist sect with a following limited to three states--Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee--the Church of Christ in Christian Union espoused a strict moral code which forbade drinking, dancing, movies, swimming, swearing, popular literature, and moral injunctions against violence and war. Though raised Methodist, York joined the Church of Christ in Christian Union and in the process convinced one of his best friends, Rosier Pile, to join as well. Blessed with a melodious singing voice, York became the song leader and a Sunday School teacher at the local church. Rosier Pile went on to become the church's pastor. The church also brought York in contact with the girl who would become his wife, Gracie Williams.

By most accounts, York's conversion was sincere and complete. He quit drinking, gambling, and fighting. When the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, York's new found faith would be tested. York received his draft notice from his friend, the postmaster and pastor, Rosier Pile, on June 5, 1917, just six months prior to his thirtieth birthday. Because of the Church of Christ in Christian Union's proscriptions against war, Pile encouraged York to seek conscientious objector status. York wrote on his draft card: "Dont [sic] want to fight." When his case came up for review it was denied at both the local and the state level because the Church of Christ in Christian Union was not recognized as a legitimate Christian sect.



Though a would-be conscientious objector, drafted at age thirty, York in many ways typified the underprivileged, undereducated conscript who traveled to France to "keep the world safe for democracy." With great reservations, York embarked for Camp Gordon, Georgia to receive his basic training. A member of Company G in the 328th Infantry attached to the 82nd Division (also known as the "All American Division) York established himself as a curiosity--an excellent marksman who had no stomach for war. After weeks of debate and counseling, York relented to his company commander, George Edward Buxton, that there are times when war is moral and ordained by God, and he agreed to fight.

York's role as hero went beyond his exploit in the Argonne and continues to both inspire and confound. On October 8, 1918, Corporal Alvin C. York and sixteen other soldiers under the command of Sergeant Bernard Early were dispatched before sunrise to take command of the Decauville railroad behind Hill 223 in the Chatel-Chehery sector of the Meuse-Argonne sector. The seventeen men, due to a misreading of their map (which was in French not English) mistakenly wound up behind enemy lines. A brief fire fight ensued which resulted in the confusion and the unexpected surrender of a superior German force to the seventeen soldiers. Once the Germans realized that the American contingent was limited, machine gunners on the hill overlooking the scene turned the gun away from the front and toward their own troops. After ordering the German soldiers to lie down, the machine gun opened fire resulting in the deaths of nine Americans, including York's best friend in the outfit, Murray Savage. Sergeant Early received seventeen bullet wounds and turned the command over to corporals Harry Parsons and William Cutting, who ordered York to silence the machine gun. York was successful and when all was said and done, nine men had captured 132 prisoners.



That York deserves credit for his heroism is without question. Unfortunately, however, his exploit has been blown out of proportion with some accounts claiming that he silenced thirty-five machine guns and captured 132 prisoners single-handedly. York never claimed that he acted alone, nor was he proud of what he did. Twenty-five Germans lay dead, and by his accounting, York was responsible for at least nine of the deaths. Only two of the seven survivors were acknowledged for their participation in the event; Sergeant Early and Corporal Cutting were finally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1927.

York's war exploit typified that of the nineteenth century American hero. He appeared larger than life and was most often compared to three peculiarly American icons: Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Abraham Lincoln. Literally growing up in a quasi-frontier existence tucked away in a remote Tennessee backwater unscathed by industrialized America, York was born and raised in a log cabin near the Tennessee-Kentucky border--a region which bore no resemblance to the break-neck bustle of New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles--so York seemed to belong to another more idyllic time. As late as 1917, he hunted squirrel, raccoon, quail, wild boar and deer with a muzzle-loader. York's life caught fire in the American imagination not because of who he was, but what he symbolized: a humble, self-reliant, God-fearing, taciturn patriot who slowly moved to action only when sufficiently provoked and then adamantly refused to capitalize on his fame. Ironically, York also represented a rejection of mechanization and modernization through his dependence upon personal skill. George Patullo, the Saturday Evening Post reporter who broke the story, focused on the religio-patriotic nature of York's feat. He titled his piece The Second Elder Gives Battle, referring to York's status in his home congregation in Pall Mall, Tennessee.


Alvin York's "old gun" was a U.S. Model 1917 Enfield Rifle.
Mechanism Type: Turnbolt, fixed box-magazine
Caliber: .30-'06
Weight: 9.5 lbs.
Over-All Length: 46.3"
Magazine Capacity: 6 rounds

For his actions, York was singled out as the greatest individual soldier of the war and when he returned home in 1919 he was wooed by Hollywood, Broadway, and various advertisers who wanted his endorsement of their products. York turned his back on quick and certain fortune in 1919, and went home to Tennessee to resume peacetime life. Largely unknown to most Americans was the fact that Alvin York returned to America with a single vision. He wanted to provide a practical educational opportunity for the mountain boys and girls of Tennessee. Understanding that to prosper in the modern world an education was necessary, York sought to bring Fentress County into the twentieth century. Thousands of like-minded veterans returned from France with similar sentiments and as a result college enrollments shot up immediately after the war.

The war had introduced York to a mechanized industrial world and his prolonged exposure to it made him realize the important contributions industrialization could make for his friends and relatives at home. Literally a stranger in a strange land, York recognized that he was ill-equipped to fully understand or appreciate his foreign surroundings. Initially he immersed himself in the Bible, hoping that his simplistic religious faith would see him through, but by the war's end he longed for something more than just his faith.


With the Tennessee Society of New York in 1919 at the welcoming home ceremonies.

Yearning to return home and wed his sweetheart, York was taken aback by his New York City hero's welcome. He prevailed upon Tennessee Congressman and future Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, to facilitate a hasty return to his home. Once back in Tennessee further surprises awaited him. The Rotary Club of Nashville in conjunction with other Tennessee clubs wanted to present York with a home and a farm.

Unfortunately not enough money was raised and they gave him an unfinished home and saddled him with a healthy mortgage to boot. As late as 1922, the deed remained in the hands of the Nashville Rotary Club.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. That's right, it's your grandpa's attic. Duh. I knew that. :-)

It a frazzled kind of day. Thanks for sharing with us.

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon Darksheare.

[Darksheare]

Afternoon.
ON a side note: In the movie High Road to China with Bess Armstrong and Tom Selleck, they have two vintage biplanes named Dorothy and Lillian (named after the Gish sisters.. *meow*) but I have never been able to find out what make and model the planes are.

[Professional Engineer]

Your York connection is cool. Thanks for sharing the story with us.

[SAMWolf]

I heard they were Tiger Moths

[Darksheare]

Somewhat wrong tail shape, and wrong engine facing shape.
They had a "tombstone" slab nose like a JN-4, but not the wings or body shape.
And none of the articles about the movie (from way back) ever said what they were.

[snippy_about_it]

[SAMWolf]

Found this

While on the subject of vintage European biplanes we must mention the Belgian Stampe. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, this two-place, all wood-trainer won the hearts of the entire continent and even today the center of a dedicated aerobatic competition, the Coupe D'Anjou, a contest in France for Stampes only. Soft, docile, and easy to fly, the Stampe is an excellent choice for an entry level acrobatic airplane. If you want to see some Stampe flying, rent a copy of the film High Road to China, in which two Stamps masquerading as WWI Fighters, flit all over the Hindu Kush. They were flown in the film by Eric Miller and David Perrin (who lost his life during filming in a liaison helicopter accident).

The Stampe was designed in 1933 by Belgian WW I pilot Jean Stampe. He was a Moth dealer in the 1920´s. The aircraft was meant as a rival to the De Havilland D.H. 60 Moth and the D.H.82 Tiger Moth. The aircraft was so popular that production was started and license right were sold to Farmann in France. Only 10 were delivered to the military before WW II stopped the production in France. In 1947 the production was resumed by Stampe and Renard and 65 modernized SV 4B´s were delivered to the Belgian Air force. In France and Algeria approx 850 Stampe SV 4A and SV 4C were built mostly powered by a 140 h.p. Renault 4 Pei engine. The museum's SV 4B with the registration OY-DBC was completed in 1955 and was in service in the Belgian Air force until 1976 as V62. The aircraft came to Denmark in 1977 and flew again in 1987 after a complete restoration.

[Darksheare]

Both wrong.
Inline engine, not radial, and a flat tombstone engine facing, not the rounded fairing on the Stampe.
Weird, honestly.
But, it is possible they 'modified' parts of the aircraft.
The cockpits were rounded, not the square sides, and as mentioned they had the tombstone engine facing.
*snort*
Gotta love trying to track down aircraft!

[SAMWolf]

This is all I can find. :-(

High Road to China (Warner 1983, 105m) D: Brian Hutton. Tom Sellick = O'Malley, Bess Armstrong = Eve, Jack Weston = Struts, Wilford Brimley = Bradley Tozer, Robert Morley = Bentik. Screenplay: Jon Cleary, S Lee Pogostin. A pilot is saddled with a spoiled industrialist's daughter on a search for her missing father through Asia that eventually involves them in a struggle against a Chinese warlord. Maltin review: "Low road to escapism, with Selleck (in his first starring feature) as a boozy ex-WW1 aerial ace hired by heiress Armstrong to find her father. Strictly mediocre, with substandard action scenes and the flattest dialogue this side of the Great Wall."

AIRCRAFT: Stampe, DH Tiger Moth.

[colorado tanker]

I just love those Iowa class battleships. Real beauties.

[Darksheare]

Weird.

[colorado tanker]

Howdy, folks. Nice story about Sgt. York. Interesting that he converted from isolationism to interventionist before WWII, particularly where he was a member of a pacifist sect.

I have to agree that the film Sgt. York was not the best of the genre.

I got a real laugh last night during the Academy Awards when they were talking about Cold Mountain and referred to the Civil War as "the most violent period in American history," as if it was some kind of crime spree. Those airheads really are clueless about our history.

[SAMWolf]

Morning CT.

[SAMWolf]

You watched the Academy Awards? ;-)

[snippy_about_it]

....referred to the Civil War as "the most violent period in American history," as if it was some kind of crime spree.

LOL. Well you know they were all carrying (gasp) guns!

[Darksheare]

Morning.
*chuckle*
I don't watch the Academy Awards.

[colorado tanker]

Yep. The weather was kinda raw yesterday so I fired up a pot of chili and we chowed down watching the Awards. When Billy Crystal is the emcee it can be pretty funny.

The silence about The Passion was deafening, as it turned over $100 million in its first week. One thing Hollywood won't overlook is money.

It was bad enough that Lord of the Rings, an epic about good triumphing over evil, swept the Awards. Next year they have to do something with a blockbuster about Christianity. Gasp!

[colorado tanker]

It would be fun to tell a Hollywood airhead that almost all the Southern soldiers were Democrats and watch their expression! :)

[SAMWolf]

Yeah, if "The Passion" gets nominated it'll be interesting to watch next year, just to see the reactions.