Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
December 13, 1887 – September 2, 1964
The Most Decorated Hero of World War I
with 23 Medals of Honor
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Lifetime
warrior for mankind |
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Compiled from Internet sources by
descendent
Gary
D. Courtney,
of Sir Athon de Courtenay, 1010 A.D.,
Grandson of Cleva Pauline York, and
Great-grandson of William Riley York,
for the next generation:
Heather Courtney, Whittaker Courtney,
Kim (Courtney) Taylor, Kara (Courtney) Ward
Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
Table of Contents
Photo Album
Highlights of Sgt. York’s Life
Sergeant Alvin C. York
in World War I
Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation
Current Activities in Sergeant York
Country
Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute
Alvin Cullum York Biography
Sgt. Alvin C. York’s
Diary as a Soldier
Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
Alvin C. York with his parents and brothers and sisters
around 1900.
A formal portrait after the war.
Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
Sergeant
York, with the
at the welcoming home ceremonies.
Alvin C. York in
before the premiere of the movie
“Sergeant York” in the Astor Theatre.
Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
Doing a radio interview in
With Windell
Wilkie at the
Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
Jesse Lasky,
Windell Willkie, Tennessee Governor Prentice Cooper, Sgt. York
Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
They were married by Tennessee Governor A.H. Roberts.
The
Sergeant Alvin Cullum York
Highlights of Sgt. York's Life
These are a few of the major events in the life of Sergeant Alvin C.York from the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee who became one of America's greatest war heros in World War I.
1887 Alvin Cullum York was born on December 13, 1887, in
1915 Alvin C. York was "saved" by a personal experience
with Jesus Christ and joined the
1917 Alvin C. York received notice to register for the draft in June.
Pastor Pile urged
1917 Alvin C. York was inducted into the Army on November 15.
1918 York and the 82nd Division sailed for
1918 On October 8 in the battle of the Argonne Alvin C. York captured
132 prisoners.
1919 Sgt. York returned to the
1919 On June 7, Alvin C. York and Gracie Williams were married in
1927 Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute was established by Sgt. York.
He had spent several years raising money for the school which operated as a
private institution.
1937 Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute became a state special school
after a special appeal to the Tennessee State Legislature from Sgt. York who
was no longer able to operate the school.
1941 The story of Sgt. York was made into a movie. Sgt. York acted as
advisor.
1954 Alvin C. York suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and became bed-ridden.
1964 On September 2, 1964, Alvin C. York died at the
Sergeant
Alvin C. York
In World War I
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Maps: Vantage Art, |
Sergeant
Alvin C. York
In World War I
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General
Information |
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Quotes
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"Sir, I am doing wrong. Practicing to kill people is against my religion." "What you did was the greatest thing accomplished
by any private soldier of all the armies of Marshall Ferdinand Foch, on "This uniform ain't for sale." "It's over; let's just forget about it." |
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SERGEANT YORK PATRIOTIC FOUNDATION
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Unheralded, virtually unnoticed, a group of dedicated individuals guiding the SERGEANT YORK PATRIOTIC FOUNDATION (SYPF) have been hard at work since November 1993. As a result, a lot of good things have been happening since 2000, and more are on the horizon. If you have not heard of the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation, it is not surprising. Personal accolades are not what its members seek. Simply stated, the organization is committed to four things:
Volume 1, Number 1 of Sgt. York Says, was ready for distribution on March 1, 2000. This newsletter is an official publication of the SERGEANT YORK PATRIOTIC FOUNDATION and will be published quarterly. It is one of the items included in a membership package. The newsletter is mailed quarterly to all SYPF members. Sgt. York Says is eight full pages of
interesting information, much of which has not been published before. The
name Sgt. York Says was taken from Sgt.York's nationally syndicated
column. A reprint of one of his columns appears in this edition of the
newsletter along with unpublished love letters that he wrote from the
trenches to Miss Gracie. Included is information about current activities at
the York Historic Home Site in SERGEANT
YORK PATRIOTIC FOUNDATION
If you would like to join the SERGEANT YORK PATRIOTIC FOUNDATION, click Membership Form to complete and print the form, choosing the level of membership that best suits you. The SYPF is a non-profit corporation and is funded by voluntary contributions. Any assistance given is greatly appreciated. Although the foundation is off to a good start, much is yet to be done and it will take the efforts of many to accomplish the desired results. The SYPF web site in still in the development stage and new information will be added as time allows. The work of the foundation is exciting and we welcome your participation. Should you have questions or want additional information, our email address is sypf@alvincyork.org. We look forward to hearing from you. |
Current Activities in Sgt. York Country
· Volume 1, number 1 of Sgt. York Says, was ready for distribution March 1, 2000. This newsletter is an official publication of the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation and will be published quarterly. You will find Sgt. York Says full of interesting information, much of which has not been published before. For more information or to request a copy, go to the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation link above.
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1920's Black Powder Shoot |
1999 |
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Alvin C. York is standing, 5th from right |
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Andrew York(son of Sgt. York) and Paul Swanson at 1999 Black Powder Shoot |
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The Alvin C. York Memorial Shoot will be
held Saturday, March 25, 2000 at the
Current Activities in Sgt. York Country
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Restoration of the historic Alvin C. York
& Sons General Merchandise and Wolf River Post Office is now complete.
The store is being stocked in preparation for opening around the first of April
2000. A Grand Opening celebration will be planned for a later date. The
brand new facility will serve as the Welcome Center and Interpretive Center
for those visiting the York Historic Site.
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<> 
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The "
The Sgt. York stamp is part of a series of four
stamps honoring an officer and an "uncommon foot soldier" from World
Wars I and II. The other notables honored are General John L. Hines, also a
World War I veteran; 2nd Lt. Audie Murphy, who received the Medal of Honor for
saving the troops in his company and single-handedly breaking up a German
attack; Gen. Omar Bradley, who commanded the first Army during the 1944 Allied
landing in Normandy, and later served as Army Chief of Staff and Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs.
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The SERGEANT YORK PATRIOTIC FOUNDATION
prepared for this special occasion a limited edition portfolio containing four
specially designed commemorative stamped envelopes. Each of the four envelopes
depicts a facet of Alvin York's many contributions to mankind. The cover is
burgundy in color with gold lettering and information sheets are inside the
front and back covers. Each portofolio is $30.00 plus $3.20 for mailing for a
total of $33.20 each. Ordering information is below. You do not want to miss
this opportunity.
Current Activities in Sgt. York Country
To order, send a check or money order made out
to SYPF to cover the cost of each portfolio ($33.20 each) along with your name,
address and phone number to:
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Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation |
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Please allow six weeks for delivery.
Click
here for pictures of the Stamp Day Celebration and other
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The Western Front Association will be meeting
at the
"To
Prepare and Excel"
931-879-8101
Go Dragons!
Alvin C. York
Agricultural Institute
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Alvin C. York
Biography
by Gladys Williams
Gladys Williams was a dedicated teacher at York Institute for many years and was very interested in the life of Alvin C. York. She wrote this unpublished biography on his life.
The boy that was destined to become
There was nothing in the horoscope of the
True, he came from hardy pioneer stock,
tracing his ancestry back to colonial forebears migrating from
Great estates when divided among large
families for two or three generations can be reduced to small, marginal farms
barely capable of keeping the wolf from the door. This had happened to the
Coonrod Pile estate. His vast holdings had been reduced by division until third
generation Nancy Pile Brooks had only 75 acres. This she gave to her son,
William Brooks, while her daughter Mary, was given the share of her Aunt Polly
Pile. This was 70 acres, "part level and part hilly." Mary got her
portion when she married William York and the two set up housekeeping in what
was once a crib on the Coonrod Pile land. Seventy-five acres of rocky hillside
has mighty little productive capacity when there are thirteen mouths to feed.
It was said of
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
In addition to his farming and teaching,
Uriah York was also a soldier in the United States Army in two wars, the
Mexican War and the Civil War. He was one of the
After he and Nancy had been married about two
years and one daughter had been born to them, an old feud with Pres Huff flared
up again and William Brooks killed him. Brooks then fled the country knowing
that Huff's friends would soon be there to avenge his death. Several months
later Nancy Pile Brooks and her daughter also disappeared. More months passed
and finally a letter from
But William Brooks was never to get a trial
by law. The next night a band of men rode up the
The lives of both William York and Mary Brooks had
been scarred by the tragic loss of their fathers. But life must go on
regardless of the suffering along the way. Perhaps these two Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
young people were drawn together by their common tragedies. At any rate, when Mary Brooks, daughter of William Brooks, was fifteen years old she met William York, son of Uriah York, and the two fell in love and got married. Alvin York, who was later to become world famous as Sergeant York, was their third son.
William York was a simple man whose philosophy of life had never been complicated by the corrupting influence of over-ambition and selfishness. He believed contentment and peace of mind were the children of fair play and honest labor. He was so fair and just in his dealings with the people of the valley that he came to be called "Judge York," and people were so convinced of his honesty and impartiality that he was often called upon to arbitrate neighborhood disputes. These were the values that William York taught his children to hang onto. Yet, in spite of his honesty and his fair dealing, and his unselfishness, William York was always a poor man. He was a farmer and a blacksmith, but he was also a hunter and a man of the mountains. He never let the accumulation of material possessions stand in his way when he felt the call of the wild stirring in his hunter's blood. It was his one great weakness, and often at the most inopportune times he would call his hounds and be off on a hunt that sometimes stretched into days or even weeks.
While these long hunts may have had an
unhealthy effect upon the family budget, they did serve a purpose as training
for his sons who were old enough to accompany him. They all grew up next to
nature, learned the ways of the forest, how to stalk game; learned to know all
the trees by their leaves and bark; learned the haunts of animals and how to
use the long rifle. Mountain men lived by their rifles. They were not weapons to
be used in a fight; they were tools with which to supply the table. Those who
became truly expert with a rifle used it very effectively each Saturday
afternoon to supply meat for the table and even change for the pocket at the
weekly shooting matches. These matches brought together the elite of the
shooting fraternity, and William York was in the top echelon. In this sport,
too,
If he learned the lore of the forest, the habits of its creatures and the art of handling a long rifle from his father, he also learned the art of living from his mother. The cornerstone of her philosophy of life was self control. She never allowed anger or excitement to drive her to irrational acts. This inner calm and self control she instilled in all her children, but it was Alvin who fate placed in a position to profit most from it. Neither she nor he could know that years later, after he had grown to mature manhood, the lessons in clear thinking and self control he learned from his untutored mother would save his life and make him an international celebrity. Both parents contributed much to the training of Alvin York that enabled him to perform the feat that made him famous.
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
William York died in 1911, leaving the entire
burden of bringing up the large family on Mary Brooks York.
As titular head of the family, he divided the farm work up among his younger brothers, reserving for himself the privilege of working outside to bring in the cash money the family needed. He worked at whatever jobs he could get. In summer he worked on neighboring farms; in winter he hauled staves, logged, or worked at sawmills. He worked six days a week, but Saturday night and Sunday were his days to howl, and the "shack" near the Bald Rock on the Tennessee-Kentucky line was his place to howl. At the "shack" he met his wild friends and associates, and there was much drinking, fighting, wild parties and gambling. Often they would visit the "shack", get drunk, then spread out over the whole area wherever there was a meeting, a box supper, or other activities where they could find a crowd to disturb.
His mother pleaded with her boy to change his ways. He was not himself, she told him, when he was drinking, and she begged him to stop. After one of these sprees she begged him so earnestly and was so convincing in her arguments that he promised her he' d never drink again. From that day on, no drop of whiskey ever tickled the throat of Alvin York.
About that time, too,
In the light of all this, the historian
wonders if the influence of Gracie Williams might not have carried considerable
weight, along with his mother's, in bringing to an end
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
The Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf in
1917 was a dimple in the Cumberlands where "exceeding peace"
abounded. But there was one small cloud on the horizon. There had been a
trickle of news filtering into the valley about a big war that was going on way
across the sea somewhere. The menfolk would gather at R. C. Pile's store on
Saturday afternoons and "Pastor" Pile would read to them about the
fighting in
"Life's tol'ably queer. You think you've got a grip on it, then you open your hands and find out there's nothing in them. It doesn't go in straight lines like bees to their hives or quail from the covey. It sort of circles like foxes and goes back again to where it began."
So spoke Alvin York in 1917 when Uncle Sam
pointed a finger at him and said, "I want you." The big red-headed,
raw-boned son of the forest thought he had a grip on life. Before the arrival
of a certain card on June 5, 1917, the future never looked brighter for Alvin
York. For him life had always been good, even if hard at times. Now it looked
better than ever. Hadn't Gracie agreed to marry him when last they met on the
limestone ledge under the giant beeches? And hadn't he just been named an elder
in their little
The card that arrived on June 5, 1917 was his notice
to register for the draft. Not until then would he acknowledge, even to
himself, that fate had caught up with him. Describing this day when his world
began to disintegrate around him, he wrote: "I kind of lived in a dream
the next few days (after Gracie had promised to marry him) and then all of a
sudden, out of nowhere, so it seemed to me, life sort of took me by the back of
the neck and tried to lift me Alvin C.
York
Biography (Cont’d.)
out of our little valley and throw me into
the war over there in
He did.
The small cloud on the horizon of just a few months before had now spread all the way around the world, casting its shadow over the Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf. Alvin York "opened his hands" to find there was "nothing in them."
He started keeping a diary on that fateful
June 5th, the day he got his notice to register for the draft. From that day on
until May 29, 1919 when he arrived back in his Valley of the Three Forks,
The world has been under the impression that Alvin York was a conscientious objector who tried unsuccessfully to avoid serving in the army. Technically, this was not so, although at one point he admitted it and at another denied it categorically. Let the reader make up his own mind after reading the next few pages.
Alvin York did not want to go to war. He freely admits that and tells why. He says, "There were two reasons why I didn't want to go to war. My own experience told me it wasn't right, and the Bible was against it too.....but Uncle Sam said he wanted me, and I had been brought up to believe in my country."
If there is anything one can say about Alvin
York without fear of contradiction, it is that he was patriotic. He loved his
country, and what is more, he came from a long line of patriots who had fought
for their country all the way from King's Mountain to
"So you see my religion and my experience...told
me not to go to war, and the memory of my ancestors...told me to get my gun and
go fight. I didn't know what to do. I'm telling you there Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
was a war going on inside me, and I didn't know which side to lean to. I was a heap bothered. It is a most awful thing when the wishes of your God and your country...get mixed up and go against each other. One moment I would make up my mind to follow God, and the next I would hesitate and almost make up my mind to follow Uncle Sam. Then I wouldn't know which to follow or what to do. I wanted to follow both but I couldn't. They were opposite. I wanted to be a good Christian and a good American too."
Up to this point in the sheltered life of the isolated valley in which Alvin York had lived, he had never come face to face with and had to choose between two great principles or courses of action. He had always just assumed that being a good Christian and being a good, patriotic American were one and the same thing. At least they were so closely connected that a man dedicated to one would automatically be dedicated to the other. Now he was learning it was not so in the light of what he had always been taught about Christianity and about patriotism. The complexities of theology and its application to living in a world far more complex than he had imagined, drove him to cry out, "I am a soul in doubt."
The records in the War Department in
"Pastor Pile put in a plea to the government that it was against the religion of our church to fight, and that he wanted to get me out on these grounds. And he sent his papers to the War Department, and they filled them out and sent them to me at the camp and asked me to sign them.
"They told me all I had to do was to
sign them. And I refused to sign them, as I couldn't see it the way Pastor Pile
did. My mother, too, put in a plea to get me out as her sole support. My father
was dead and I was keeping my mother and brothers and sisters. And the papers
were fixed up and sent to
Here we have a direct statement from Alvin York
denying categorically that he ever was a conscientious objector. But we have
another direct quotation from another book stating that Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
"....so long as the records remain I will be officially known as a conscientious objector. I was. I joined the church. I had taken its creed, and I had taken it without what you might call reservations. I was not a Sunday Christian. I believed in the Bible, and I tried in my own way to live up to it."
Here we have two direct statements which appear to be flatly contradictory: "I never was a conscientious objector," and "So long as the records remain I will be officially known as a conscientious objector. I was."
How do we reconcile these statements? Or can we reconcile them? I think we can.
Those who knew Alvin York personally knew how confused he was at that time. In that confused state of mind he interpreted the term "conscientious objector" in two different ways, as it was used by the War Department and as he saw it in the light of his church creed and the Bible. By the former interpretation he was not a conscientious objector; by the latter he was. His lack of education made it impossible for him to comprehend entirely the two horns of the dilemma upon which he was impaled. In his own writing he gives us a basis for this explanation: "Only the boy who is uneducated can understand what an awful thing ignorance is . . . . I know what I want to say, but I don't always know just how to put it down on paper. I just don't know how to get it out of me and put it in words."
The conflict raged on in his mind. He was still the "soul in doubt knowing that he really wanted to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and fight for his country, but finding no way to reconcile war and killing with his own conscience and the creed of his church.
From November 17, 1917 until February 1, 1918
he was assigned to the 21st Training Battalion. There he did squads right and
squads left until he became proficient in close-order drill. During this time,
also, he was low man on the military totem pole and forced to do many menial
tasks such as picking up cigarette butts from the camp grounds. "I thought
that was pretty bad as I didn't smoke," he said, "but I did it just
the same." He also suffered from homesickness for his mountain-rimmed
valley in
Alvin York felt a perpetual love for and kinship with his hills and valleys. He wrote: "I used to walk out in the night under the stars and linger on the hillside, and I wanted to put my arms around them-there hills. They were at peace, and so was the world, and so was I." Of course that was before news of the great war had filtered into his valley.
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
This homesick soldier was sincere when he spoke of his love of and longing for the mountains that surrounded his beloved valley. They had helped him find the peace of mind that all men long for, and he says, "When you have found love and peace of soul, you are beginning to find out what life is all about. I guess them-there two things, love and peace, are what folks call the fundamental things."
On February 1, 1918 Private Alvin York, his
"squads right" and "squads left" behind him, was assigned
to Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Division. This was known as the
All-American Division because it was composed of men from every state in the
Departure for
From that night on, all doubts seem to have
left him, and he plunged whole-heartedly into the business of becoming a
soldier. He accepted the fact that there was a job to do, that it was his duty
to help do it, and that it was right that he should. But it was a job to be
done not for glory or honor or fame, but for the good of mankind. To Alvin
York, doing a job like this made of a man a good, patriotic citizen, not a
hero. That is why he has been referred to as a "reluctant hero." If
he was a hero at all, he was a reluctant one. He never laid claim to being a
hero, and he did not seek notoriety or fame. He did not go into the army
seeking glory. In fact he did not go into the army at all; he was taken in.
Tennesseans have glorified war and sought fame in conflict since colonial days.
Thus the name, "
After a 10-day leave spent at home conducting a
revival meeting at Greer's Chapel, Alvin York started back to
Biography (Cont’d.)
although I had many trials and much hardship and temptation, but then the Lord would bless me and I almost felt sure of coming back home, for the Lord was with me."
Alvin York's appointment with destiny came on
the morning of October 8, 1918 in the Argonne
The attack bogged down under the withering fire from their front and both flanks. A hurried conference decided the only way to continue the advance was to knock out the machine gun nests on the hill to their left. A detachment of one non-commissioned officer and sixteen men were detailed to circle around the end of the hill and attack the machine gun nests from the rear. Alvin York, then a corporal, was one of these seventeen men. Crawling through the undergrowth, they succeeded in passing around the German flank and getting behind their lines.
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
Now let
"....there was 17 of us boys went around
on the left flank to see if we couldn't put those guns out of action. So when
we went around and fell in behind those guns, we first saw two Germans with Red
Cross bands on their arms. So we asked them to stop and they did not. So one of
the boys shot at them and they run back to our right. So we all run after them,
and when we jumped across a little stream of water that was there, they was
about 15 or 20 Germans jumped up and threw up their hands and said, 'Kame rad!'
So the one in charge of us boys told us not to shoot; they was going to give up
anyway. (These prisoners included a major and two other officers). By this time
some of the Germans from on the hill was shooting at us. Well, I was giving
them the best I had, and by this time the Germans had got their machine guns
turned around and fired on us. So they killed six and wounded three of us. So
that just left 8, and then we got into it right by this time. So we had a hard
battle for a little while, and I got hold of the German major and he told me if
I wouldn't kill any more of them he would make them quit firing. So I told him
all right if he would do it now. So he blew a little whistle and they quit
shooting and come down and gave up. I had killed over 20 before the German
major said he would make them give up. I covered him with my automatic and told
him if he didn't make them stop firing I would take his head off next. And he
knew I meant it. After he blew his whistle, all but one of them came off the
hill with their hands up, and just before that one got to me he threw a little
hand grenade which burst in the air in front of me. I had to touch him off. The
rest surrendered without any more trouble. There were nearly a 100 of them. We
had about 80 or 90 Germans there disarmed, and had another line of Germans to
go through to get out. So I called for my men, and one of them answered from
behind a big oak tree, and the others were on my right in the brush. (All the
non-commissioned officers had been killed or severely wounded except
Throughout the investigation that followed
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
The next morning twenty-eight dead Germans
were found at the scene of the fight.
The officers of the 82nd Division made this
official report to General Headquarters: "The part which Corporal York
individually played in the attack (the capture of the Decauville Railroad) is
difficult to estimate. Practically unassisted he captured 132 Germans (three of
whom were officers), took about thirty-five machine guns, and killed no less
than twenty-five of the enemy, later found by others on the scene of York's
extraordinary exploit. The story has been carefully checked in every possible
detail from headquarters of this division and is entirely substantiated.
Although
The official history of the 82nd Division
states that
On November 1,
What did Sgt. York think about the Armistice and the
ending of the war? "I don't know that I can just exactly tell my feelings
at that time," he writes, "It was awful noisy. All the French were
drunk, whooping and hollering. The Americans were drinking with them, all of
them. I never did anything much, just went to church and wrote home and read a
little. I did not go out that night. I was all tired. I was glad the Armistice
was signed, glad it was all over. There had been enough fighting and killing.
And my feelings were like most of the American boys. Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
It was all over and we were ready to go home. I felt they had done the thing they should have done, signing the Armistice."
Between November 11, 1918, when the Armistice
was signed, ending the war, and May 10, 1919, when Sgt. York boarded ship for
his return to the States, he traveled extensively in
During all the months after the war's end he was anxious to get started home. He wrote in his diary: "I wanted all the time to get back to the mountains where I belonged. I wanted to live the quiet life again and escape from the mad rush of the world. We had done the job we set out to do, and now, like all the other American soldiers, I wanted to get back home."
On May 10, 1919 he boarded the U.S.S. Ohio in
The Tennessee Society in
From
On May 29, 1919 Alvin York arrived back at
his home in
Alvin York was back in his beloved valley. The war was
over. What came next? He didn't really know for he had not projected his
thinking that far into the future. But regardless of what the future might
hold, first things must come first. He had given Gracie an option when Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
he went away. When he returned, the option stated, she could have him for the taking. Would she exercise her rights under the option? It seemed she would, and without delay. On June 7, 1919, one week and day after Alvin York had returned from the war, Gracie foreclosed her option and became Mrs. Alvin C. York.
The marriage ceremony was performed by
Governor A.H. Roberts of
Before his return to his native valley, Alvin York had many times expressed his desire to get back to the peace and quiet of his mountain home. Now he was back, but the quiet, uneventful life he had known before would be no more. The world followed him into his valley clamoring for his attention with all sorts of propositions and offers to do this or that for thousands of dollars. The kind of money that he was offered if he would commercialize his fame would have staggered his imagination two years before. He wrote at the time that "I knew if I hadn't been to war and hadn't been a doughboy they never would have offered me anything. I also knew I didn't go to war to make a heap or to go on the stage or in the movies. I went over there to help make peace. And there was peace now, so I didn't take their thirty pieces of silver and betray that there old uniform of mine." Then he continued: "I just wanted to be left alone to go back to my beginnings. The war was over. I had done my job and I had done it the best I could. So I figured I ought to be left alone and allowed to go back to the mountains where I belonged." His refusal to accept fabulous offers because they did not square with his conscience further endeared him to the American people.
But something had happened to Alvin York. He was not the same simple mountaineer who left the Valley of the Three Forks in November 1917. He had grown up, so to speak. He sensed a difference in himself. Everything at home was the same, but "I knew that I had changed," he wrote. "I knew I wasn't like I used to be. The big outside world I had been in and the things I had fought through had touched me up inside a powerful lot....I was sort of restless and full of dreams and wanted to be doing something and I didn't understand. So I sat out on the hillside trying to puzzle it out. Before the war I felt the mountains isolated us and kept us together as a God-fearing, God-loving people. They did that, too, but they did more than that. They kept out many of the good and worthwhile things like good roads, schools, libraries, up-to-date homes and modern farming methods."
The truth had dawned on Alvin York that isolation is never altogether good; that what keeps out the bad also keeps out the good. In addition it hems in those it would protect and stunts their growth by lack of contact with the outside world.
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
Alvin York, in the days after his return from the war, began to feel a kind of calling; a feeling that God had picked him to do a job and protected him while preparing him to do it. Along with his conviction that the isolation of the mountains had kept many good things from his people, he got the new idea that it was his mission in life to break down the barriers and bring education and enlightenment to his valley. He writes: "I kind of figured my trials and tribulations in the war had been to prepare me for doing just this work in the mountains. All of my suffering in having to go and kill were to teach me the value of human lives. All the temptations I went through were to strengthen my character."
Fired by what he believed to be a mandate from God to do something for his people, Alvin York conceived the idea of establishing schools for mountain children. This way he could save many a mountain boy from the embarrassment he had had to face many a time when he was forced to confess that "I'm just an ignorant mountain boy."
After he determined in his mind that the work
he would do for his people would be in the field of education, he lost no time
getting his program under way. Up to this time the people of
But by this time he had
managed to accumulate $10,000 in his school fund. At first his plan was to
establish several small schools at strategic locations throughout the
mountains, but this idea was discarded as impractical and the plan to build one
large institution to be known as the York Industrial Institute was substituted
for it. Raising the money to support such an institution, however, would be an
enormous undertaking. Considering the deterioration of the health of Sgt. York
and the fact that he would probably be unable to continue for very long the
strenuous work of raising funds for the school, it was suggested that the state
be asked to establish a state school at
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
for passage of a bill establishing the York
Agricultural Institute at
With the York Agricultural Institute now established as a state institution, Sgt. York assumed its perpetuation was guaranteed. He then settled down to the life of a gentleman farmer. He spent some time in an advisory capacity with the school. The governing board had been changed from a board composed of private individuals to the State Board of Education plus Sgt. York. He had some voice in the management of the school but his influence was not decisive. He gradually spent less and less time working in connection with the school, and fund-raising trips were less and less frequent.
After the Agricultural Institute was on a
solid footing and being maintained by the state, he turned his attention to
another educational project. He had long dreamed of a Bible school to train
young ministers and workers in the fundamentalist faith. Now he attempted to
found such an institution on the Old York homeplace at
In addition to his interest in education for
mountain children, Alvin York was also deeply concerned with other civic
problems confronting the people of the county. Good roads were one of the
improvements for which he worked untiringly. He was well known and highly
respected by most state administration over the years, and was instrumental
through his influence in
Biography (Cont’d.)
and two daughters (Betsy Ross and Mary Alice)
were born to Alvin York and Gracie Williams York. During these years between
the two wars a major portion of his time had to be devoted to the "home
front". Later, however, when war clouds began to hover over
Alvin York spoke out for democracy and our
vital need to break up the complacency that was threatening that democracy in
every part of the country prior to World War II. He spoke in dozens of major
cities and in numerous military bases to thousands of soldiers. After an
impassioned plea for unity and preparedness in
The above speech was delivered four months
before
Wars are not won by men alone. Men must have
materials with which to fight, and materials cost money.
Wherever there was work to be done to help
win the war, Alvin York was there. A man was needed in
Alvin C. York
Biography (Cont’d.)
He was a close friend of General Lewis B.
Hershey who headed the Selective Service System, and on July 31, 1941 he appeared
on a round table discussion over the Mutual Broadcasting System with General
Hershey and Major General George B. Duncan, commander of the 82nd Division, to
argue for preparedness. "If we want to keep our democracy we've got to be
ready to fight for it,"
Though serving as chairman of the Fentress
County Selective Service Local Board, Sgt. York did not approve all the
policies of the Selective Service System. He strongly opposed the rejection of
strong able-bodied men because they did not have enough education. This
objection was based on his belief that planes, missiles, and atomic bombs are
not enough. Alvin York firmly believed, and said so from many a platform, that
"You can't fight a war without the foot soldier. You can't take territory
and hold it without the foot soldier. You can't hold territory with
missiles," the old soldier argued. Then he continued, "Draft Boards
reject a lot of men who are physically able. Maybe a man hasn't got enough
education to fly an airplane or a missile, but he can still be a good foot
soldier.
More than twenty years after his return from
With this money
But a lot of the money from the movie went into the
It was the revenue from the movie that got the old
soldier into a peck of trouble with the income tax people. He paid what his lawyers
said he owed, but the IRS billed him for more than $85,000 after they refused
to allow deductions of donations to York Institute on the grounds that it was
not a charitable institution since it was supported by the state. This $85,000
finally snowballed to $172,000 with penalty and interest and became absolutely
impossible for him to pay after his third cerebral hemorrhage in February,
1954. He had suffered his first in 1949, but from 1954 until his death ten
years later he was a complete Alvin C.
York
Biography (Cont’d.)
invalid. The IRS finally agreed to accept
$25,000 as full payment of his income tax debt. This amount was raised by
public subscription from people all over
The last ten years of Alvin York's life were
spent in bed or occasionally in a wheelchair for short periods of time. These
were years of pain and suffering, but he maintained a keen interest in his
world until the end was near. For more than ten years his body had been wracked
with pain and he was virtually blind. His doctors agreed that the complications
which he suffered would have killed a man of lesser fortitude long before they
killed Alvin York. He was hospitalized ten times in the last two years of his
life. Finally the old soldier just faded away for "old Soldiers never die;
they simply fade away." The end came for Sgt. Alvin C. York at the
AFTERWORD
Governor Frank Clement suggested the body lie in state at the state capitol but the family declined, with thanks, and the body was taken home where the sun-room had been prepared for him and where thousands of people came to view this one they had loved and admired.
On Saturday, September 5, 1964, the body was
taken to the little frame church at
President Johnson's personal representative
was General Matthew B. Ridgeway, who had been World War II commander of
Ministers officiating were Dr. A. B. Mackey,
past president of
Full military honors were furnished by units of the 82nd Airborne Division and the 82nd Division Band stood outside the Chapel to play Sgt. York's favorite hymns.
Sgt. York was laid to rest in the new section
of the
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
On October 8, 1918, Corporal Alvin C. York of the
328th Infantry fought a desperate battle with a German machine gun detachment
and brought into camp 132 prisoners. He was promoted to a sergeancy, awarded
the D.S.C., the French Croixde de Guerre, many other decorations, and generally
acclaimed the greatest individual hero of the war. Much has been written about
him, but here, he tells his own story.
How long my ancestors have lived in
My great-great-grandfather, Coonrod Pile, took up this land and owned all of the valley and part of the mountain. He was the first white man there and took first choice. There is a bunch of Piles still around here.
Grandpap York was in the Mexican War and
helped storm the heights of
My father was a blacksmith. He ran his shop in the same cave where my great-great-grandfather spent his first night when he came into the valley, the first white man to get by the Creeks and Cherokees. In that same cave is where I got my early days of blacksmith training. He was very fond of hunting and shooting. Father would do his hunting every day, and if he had any blacksmith work he had to catch up with he would do that of a night. He was a good shot. He loved shooting very much, and always won every match. His advice was always to be accurate in shooting. He would always advise me to take more time and study this more. I grew up with him, hunted with him and worked in the blacksmith shop with him.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
My mother was a hardworking woman, a good mother, and very religious. She always tried to instruct us to do the right thing. There was eleven of us, eight boys and three girls. We were all tolerable sized. I was the third boy, and the largest of the bunch. We are all living today, all except my father. God took him a few years before the war.
In my young days we had practically no schools in the
mountains at all. The roads were bad and we had no money. The schools that were
there were run about two and a half or three months a year. I got about to the
third grade. There were over 100 of us in a little room and our seats were
split logs with no backs on them. After I left school I never did get to go to
school anymore. I worked on the farm and in the blacksmith shop. And I hired
out to my neighbors and worked on their farms for forty cents a day. When I got
a little bit older, I went out and worked on the railroad awhile. I might say,
too, that in my early days 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 read about Frank and Jesse James. I thought if Frank and Jesse
could be crack shots I could too. I used to gallop my horse around a tree with
a revolver and muss up that tree right smart. And I got tolerably accurate,
too. 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 fist
fights. I never was whipped, except when my mother and father whipped me. I was
wild and bad for five or six years. Then I saw it was no use, that I was
missing the better things, and I decided to change my life and be a better boy.
I knew all the time I was going along this kind of life, deep down in my heart,
that I was doing things that were not right. Mother was continually pleading
with me to quit my way of doing and change my way of life and be a better boy.
And one night, after being very drunk and fighting, I got in after midnight,
and found my mother sitting up waiting for me, and I asked her, "Why don't
you lie down?" And she said, "I can't lie down. I don't know what's
going to become of you when you are out drinking, and so I wait until you come
in." And then she asked me, "
(Cont’d.)
spoke truly, giving the punishment for the wicked and the place of happiness for those who are in Christ Jesus.
I had already told my mother I would quit the things I had been doing, and at that time I had already quit gambling and drinking and fighting and was ready to begin another life. I joined the church and became an elder. I was teaching singing schools and led all the singing in the church before I went in the army. That is why they used to call me the Singing Elder. Pastor Pile was the pastor of the church I belonged to. Pile is a very pleasant and a very handsome man. He is not the pastor of the church at present. He is first elder, and superintendent of the Sunday School. He also has a store and a farm. He practically runs the store himself. His wife and sister-in-law oversee the farm.
I don't remember whether I was working on
a farm or on a road when war first broke out. But when we came in I was driving
steel and blasting on the road that is now called the
I kept a diary right through the war. I
kept a little notebook in
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
A history of the places where I have been. The beginning of this story will start from the time I got my first notice in 1917.
JUNE 5, 1917
Pall Mall, Tennessee: Well,the first notice I received was to go and register.So I did, and then I began to think that I was going to be called to be examined.
OCTOBER 28, 1917
NOVEMBER 10, 1917
NOVEMBER 14, 1917
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
NOVEMBER 15, 1917
Oneida, Tennessee: The morning of the 15th I started for the camp, which was Camp Gordon, I went to Oneida, Tennessee and stayed there at the hotel until about 2 A.M. next morning when I entrained for Atlanta, Georgia.
NOVEMBER 16, 1917
NOVEMBER 17, 1917
Camp Gordon: I was placed in the 21st training battalion, and there I was called out the first morning of my army life to police up in the yard all the old cigarette butts, and I thought that was pretty hard, as I didn't smoke. But I did it just the same.
I had never traveled much before going to
camp. I had never been out of the mountains before, and I'm telling you I
missed them right smart down there in that flat, sandy country. And my little
old mother and Pastor Pile wanted to get me out. Pastor Pile put in a plea to
the government that it was against the religion of our church to fight; and
that he wanted to get me out on these grounds. And he sent his papers up the
War Department, and then filled them out and sent them to me at the camp and
asked me to sign them. They told me all I had to do was to sign them. And I
refused to sign them, as I couldn't see it the way Pastor Pile did. My mother,
too, put in a plea to get me out as her sole support. My father was dead and I was
keeping my mother and brothers and sisters. And the papers were fixed up and
sent to
DECEMBER and JANUARY, 1917-18
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
FEBRUARY, 1918
Camp Gordon: So there they put me by some Greeks and Italians to sleep.I couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand me, and I was the homesickest boy you have ever seen. Ho ho.
MARCH, 1918
(Cont’d.)
our mountaineers were such wonderful shots that they would win all five prizes and drive the beef home alive on the hoof. Shooting at squirrels is good, but busting a turkey at 150 yards--ho ho. So the army shooting was tolerably easy for me.
MARCH 21-31, 1918
MARCH 29, 1918
Pall Mall, Tennessee: So I had to start back to my company, and that was a
heartbreaking time for me, as I knew I had to go to
O God, in hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future broadening way,
In peace that only Thou can give,
With Thee, O Master, let me live.
Then it was that the Lord would bless me and I almost felt sure of coming back home for the Lord was with me.
APRIL 19, 1918
APRIL 21, 1918
Camp Upton, New York: We got to Camp Upton, N.Y. So we stayed there a few days and drilled.
APRIL 30, 1918
(Cont’d.)
short conversation. Then he asked me again if I objected and I told him I did not. He quoted, "Blessed are the peacemakers," and I replied that if a man can make peace by fighting he is a peacemaker. We thought when we got over there, it would not be very long before peace was made, and it was not very long after we got there that there was peace.
MAY 1, 1918
MAY 16, 1918
MAY 17, 1918
MAY 18th 1918
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
MAY 20, 1918
MAY 21, 1918
My buddies were some boys from the East. There was Corporal Murray
Savage--he got killed in the Argonne-- and Harry Parsons from Brooklyn , New York
It sure was a mixed platoon, with the Greeks and Italians and New York Tennessee and Kentucky
We got our first gas masks in Le
Havre Georgia Augusta ,
Georgia
Early was busted for being A.W.O.L. after we left Le Havre
MAY 22nd 1918
MAY 24th 1918
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
JUNE 4th 1918
JUNE(no date) 1918
Fresseneville , France--
JUNE (no date) 1918
Toul , France--
JUNE 26th 1918
JUNE 26th 1918
Rambucourt, France-- We hiked a little ways and then took the train for a short
ride and then we got off the train and hiked to Rambucourt, and we stayed at
Rambucourt until after dark, and then we went up and took over the front line
trenches for the first time.
JUNE 27th 1918
Montsec Sector , France--
It was a quiet sector, where they put new troops to train them before sending them out into no man's land. The Greeks and Italians did fairly well. I was out in no man's land. I did a right smart piece of patrolling, handling an automatic squad.
We had a lot of big stuff from the artillery coming over, and now and then a gas shell. The only firing we had then was from the snipers. We were new troops and we were nervous and jumpy at first. And when those pesky bullets came humming and buzzing a round our ears, just like a lot of mad hornets or bumblebees when you rob their nests at home in Tennessee, we used to do a powerful lot of ducking.
But soon we realized it was no use. You never hear the one that gets you.
JULY 1st 1918
(Cont’d.)
you can't keep them from busting in your trench, nor you can't stop the rain or prevent a light from agoing up jest as you are half-way over the parapet.
So what is the use of worrying if you can't alter things? Just ask God to help you and accept them and make the best of them by the help of God. Yet some men do worry, and by doing so they effectually destroy their peace of mind without doing anyone any good. Yet it is often the religious man who worries. I have even heard those whose care was for the soldier's soul deplore the fact that he did not worry. I have heard it said that the soldier is so careless, he realizes his position so little.
Oh, yes; I felt before I left home-- in fact, I told them when I left-- I was coming back, and I felt I was going to get back safely, and I never did doubt it in the least, because I had my assurance that I would return home safely.
I carried a Testament with me. I have the Testament I carried with me during all my fighting at home now. I read it through five times during my stay in the army. I read it everywhere. I read it in dugouts, in fox holes, and on the front line. It was my rock to cling to. It and my diary. I didn't do any cursing, no, not even in the front line. I cut all of that out long ago, at the time I was saved.
The trouble with the boys when we were in the quiet sector was, they would
want to go out on top of the trenches and start something. They wanted to get
into it and get it over. Those Greeks and Italians and the New York
They were always ready to go over the top in time of battle, almost too anxious to go over the top. The trouble with my platoon, it was too ambitious. It seemed like it got too far in front and had no protection on the sides sometimes.
Well, we would stay in a quiet sector a few days and pull out, and then we were sent to another and then into another, until we got into the real fighting sectors.
JULY 4th 1918
Cormeville, France-- Then we Come out to Cormeville and stayed there until July
17th.
JULY 17th 1918
Rambucourt , France--
AUGUST 2nd 1918
Mandres , France--
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
AUGUST 16th 1918
Pont-A-Mousson , France--
AUGUST 24th 1918
Liverdun , France--
SEPTEMBER 1st 1918
Pont-A-Mousson , France--
SEPTEMBER 12th 1918
St. Mihiel , France--
We were right in the thick of the St. Mihiel drive. My battalion was in it right. We went into the front line trenches and were in there about a day and a night, waiting for the artillery to get in action. Then the artillery started a barrage the night of the 12th, about 1 A.M. We went over at daybreak.
We lost several men right off. We were advancing on the village of Norroy ,
and the Germans mussed up many of our officers and men; but we kept going and
captured the town of Norroy
We lost a lot of our men because they were so anxious to get to the enemy that they kept pushing forward. We continued through Norroy on to the top of the hill beyond until we got in advance of our own flank. And the Germans were enfilading our right flank and shooting at us from the rear.
Those Greeks and Italians and New
York
But ho ho, they burnt up a lot of ammunition. When we captured Norroy, we
mopped up the houses and went through the town looking for prisoners. And a lot
of our boys knocked the bungs out of some barrels of wine and drank some; and
then they wanted to keep going right on to Berlin
And there was one big house there, all locked up. It looked like headquarters, but when we surrounded and stormed it we found it was a storehouse and it was full of Belgian hares. Ho ho. And when we started back in the night one of the boys took a milk goat that was captured and was leading it back to Pong-a-Mouson, when one of the officers
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
called to him and asked him what he was doing with that goat. He answered, "Sir, I'm just going back to put a little cream in my coffee."
While we were dug in on the hillside beyond Norroy we saw a little vineyard. We were very hungry and I'm telling you those grapes just naturally made our mouths water. So we began to slip back after the grapes. But the Germans had an observation balloon up in the air, and they saw us in the vineyard and directed the German artillery to touch us off.
Several of our boys were mussed up, and we had orders not to go back there any more. Well, that night I decided to go back and get me some of those grapes. I just stalked back, and was keeping very quiet so I wouldn't be seen, when a shell landed near, and I jumped and ran--and I ran right into my own captain! He liked grapes too. Ho ho. And we both fled together.
The Germans threw a lot of gas shells into Norroy and we had to wear our gas masks for several hours. Many of the boys were gassed or killed. Well, seeing the boys all shot up, gassed, blown to pieces, and killed lying about us, there is no tongue or human being who can ever tell the feeling of a man during this time. But I never doubted in the thickest of the battle but what God would bring me through safe.
I had the assurance before I left home. And never did doubt it. I had the assurance and I have always been taught that all of God's promises are true.
The St. Mihiel offensive opened of September 12th, and I think it was as complete a drive and as well arranged as ever could have been arranged by any general of any army. It was a great success.
The majority of the boys were 100 percent for General Pershing. Of course, there were a few that didn't think so much of him. but as a whole the army was back of him.
Our battalion in the drive at St.Mihiel kept pressing on so fast, and the battalions that relieved us, too, that we were all shot to pieces and had to be taken out after a few days for replacements.
We rested right back of Pont-A-Mousson in a little valley just over the hill. But I never heard of that goat any more. I don't know whether the boy got the cream for his coffee or not.
We came out of the front line on September 17th, after about a week of tough fighting.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
SEPTEMBER 17th 1918
St. Mihiel , France--
SEPTEMBER 24th 1918
St. Mihiel , France--
We started for the Argonne
Forest
We went in some old French buses driven by Chinese drivers. Ho ho. Lots of the
boys had never seen a Chinese before. And afterwards they were telling the
story-- I don't know how true it was-- that one of the Chinese kept pestering one
of our doughboys for a souvenir.
The doughboy took a Mills grenade out of his pocket--one of those pesky little things that you pull the lever and in five seconds it explodes. Well, he pulled the lever and then handed it to the Chinese and told him to put it to his ear and listen to it tick. Ho ho.
OCTOBER 3rd 1918
Zona Woods , France--
October 4th 1918
Argonne Forest , France--
We went on into the Argonne
Forest
The Battle of the Argonne
started the night of the 28th of September. Well, we started on a hike, going
on into the Argonne , and camped in the Zona
Woods on October 3. The woods about here hadn't been shot up much. We hadn't
yet reached the main battle grounds. But we moved up on the 4th, and I'm
telling you the woods were shot all to pieces and the ground was all torn up
with shells.
OCTOBER 5th 1918
Argonne Forest, France-- We went out on the main road and lined up and started
for the front and the Germans was shelling the road and the airplanes was
humming over our heads, and we were stumbling over dead horses and dead men,
and the shells were bursting all around us.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
And then it was I could see the power of God helped men if they would only trust Him.
Oh, it was there I could look up and say:
"O Jesus, the great rock of
foundation
Whereon my feet were set with sovereign grace.
Through shells or death with all their agitation.
Thou wilt protect me if I will only trust in Thy grace.
Bless Thy Holy Name!"
OCTOBER 7th 1918
Argonne Forest , France--
It was raining a little bit all day, drizzly and very damp. Lots of big shells bursting all around us. We were not up close enough for the machine guns to reach us, but airplanes were buzzing overhead most all the time, just like a lot of hornets. Lots of men were killed by the artillery fire. And lots more wounded.
We saw quite a lot of our machine gun battalion across the road from us blown up by the big shells. The woods were all mussed up and looked as if a terrible cyclone had swept through them.
But God would never be cruel enough to create a cyclone as terrible as that
Argonne battle. Only man would ever think of
doing an awful thing like that. It looked like "the abomination of
desolation" must look like. And all through the long night those big guns
flashed and growled just like the lightning and the thunder when it storms in
the mountains at home.
And, oh my, we had to pass the wounded. And some of them were on stretchers going back to the dressing stations, and some of them were lying around, moaning and twitching. And the dead were all along the road. And it was wet and cold. And it all made me think of the Bible and the story of the Anti-Christ and Armageddon.
And I'm telling you the little log cabin in Wolf
Valley in old Tennessee
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
That night the orders came for us to take Hill 223. The zero hour was set for 6 o'clock, which was just before daylight. We were to go over the top, take the hill, and advance across the valley to the ridges on the other side, and take them and press on to the Decauville Railroad, which was our objective. It was a very important railroad for the Germans.
And the Lost Battalion was in there somewhere, needing help most awful bad!
OCTOBER 8th 1918
Argonne Forest , France--
And they was to give us a barrage. So the time came, and no barrage, and we had to start without one. So as we started over the top at 6:10 A.M., and the Germans was putting their machines guns to work all over the hill in front of us and on our left and right. So I was in support and I could see my pals getting picked off until it almost looked like there was none left.
This was our first offensive battle in the Argonne .
My battalion was one of the attacking battalions. My platoon was the second. We
were in support of the first. We advanced just a few yards behind them. We got
through the shells and the gas all right, and occupied Hill 223, which was to
be our jumping off place for the advance on the railroad. When the zero hour
came, we went over the top and started our advance.
We had to charge across a valley several hundred yards wide and rush the machine gun emplacements on the ridge on the far side. And there were machine guns on the ridges on our flanks too.
It was kind of triangular shaped valley. So you see we were getting it from the front and both flanks. Well, the first and second waves got about halfway across the valley and then were held up by machine gun fire from the three sides. It was awful. Our loses were very heavy.
The advancement was stopped and we were ordered to dig in. I don't believe our whole battalion or even our whole division, could have taken those machine guns by a straightforward attack.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
The Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. It was hilly country with plenty of brush, and they had plenty of machine guns entrenched along those commanding ridges. And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. And, to make matters worse, something had happened to our artillery and we had no barrage.
So our attack just faded out. And there we were, lying down, about halfway across, and no barrage, and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard.
I just knew that we couldn't go on again until those machine guns were mopped up. So we decided to try and get them by a surprise attack in the rear.
We figured there must have been over thirty of them, and they were hidden on the ridges about 300 yards in front and on the left of us.
OCTOBER 8th 1918 (continued)
So there was 17 of us boys went around on the left flank to see if we couldn't
put those guns out of action. So when we went around and fell in behind those
guns, we first saw two Germans with Red Cross bands on their arms. So we asked
them to stop, and they did not. So one of the boys shot at them and they run
back to our right. So we all run after them--
Sergeant Harry Parsons gave the command to what was left of our squads-- my squad, Corporal Savage's squad, Corporal Early's, and Corporal Cutting's-- to go around through the brush and try and make the surprise attack.
According to orders, we advanced through our front line and on through the brush and up the hill on the left. We went very quietly and quickly. We had to. And we took care to keep well to our left.
Without any loss and in right smart time, we were across the valley and on the hill where the machine guns were emplaced. The brush and the hilly nature of the country hid us from the Germans.
We were nearly 300 yards in front of our own front line. When we figured we were on top of the hill and on their left flank, we had a little conference.
Some of the boys wanted to attack from the flank. But Early and I and some of the others thought it would be best to go right on over the hill and jump them from the rear. We decided on this rear attack.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
We opened up in skirmishing order and flitting from brush to brush, quickly crossed over the hill and down into the gully behind. Then we suddenly swung around behind them. The first Germans we saw were two men with Red Cross bands on their arms. They jumped out of the brush in front of us and bolted like two scared rabbits.
We called to them to surrender, and one of our boys fired and missed. And they kept on going. We wanted to capture them before they gave the alarm. We were now well behind the German trench and in the rear of the machine guns that were holding up our big advance.
We were deep in the brush and we couldn't see the Germans and they couldn't see us. But we could hear their machine guns shooting something awful. Savage's squad was leading, and mine, Early's and Cutting's followed.
OCTOBER 8th 1918 (continued)
--And when we jumped across a little stream of water that was there, they was
about 15 or 20 Germans jumped up and threw up their hands and said,
"Kamerad!" So the one in charge of us boys told us not to shoot: they
was going to give up anyway.
It was headquarters. There were orderlies, stretcher bearers and runners, and a major and two other officers, They were just having breakfast and there was a mess of beef-steaks, jellies, jams, and loaf bread around. They were unarmed, all except the major.
We jumped them right smart and covered them, and told them to throw up their hands and to keep them up. And they did. I guess they thought the whole American army was in their rear. And we didn't stop to tell them anything different. No shots were fired, and there was no talking between us except when we told them to "put them up."
OCTOBER 8th 1918 (continued)
So by this time some of the Germans from on the hill was shooting at us. Well I
was giving them the best I had, and by this time the Germans had got their
machine guns turned around and fired on us. So they killed 6 and wounded 3 of
us. So that just left 8, and then we got into it right by this time. So we had
a hard battle for a little while--
I don't know whether it was the German major, but one yelled something out in German that we couldn't understand. And then the machine guns on top swung around and opened fire on us. There were about thirty of them. They were commanding us from a hillside less than thirty yards away. They couldn't miss. And they didn't!
They killed all of Savage's squad; they got all of mine but two; they wounded Cutting and killed two of his squad; and Early's squad was well back in the brush on the extreme right and not yet under the direct fire of the machine guns, and so they escaped.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
All except Early. He went down with three bullets in his body. That left me in command. I was right out there in the open.
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, I didn't even have time to kneel or lie down.
I don't know what the other boys were doing. They claim They didn't fire a shot. They said afterwards they were on the right, guarding the prisoners. And the prisoners were lying down and the machine guns had to shoot over them to get me. 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 sharpshooting. I don't think I missed a shot. It was no time to miss.
In order to sight me or to swing their machine guns on me, the Germans had to show their heads above the trench, and every time I saw a head I just touched it off. 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.
Suddenly a German officer and five men jumped out of the trench and charged me with fixed bayonets. I changed to the old automatic and just touched them off too. I touched off the sixth man first, then the fifth, then the fourth, then the third and so on. I wanted them to keep coming.
I didn't want the rear ones to see me touching off the front ones. I was afraid they would drop down and pump a volley into me.
OCTOBER 8th 1918 (continued)
--and I got hold of the German major, and he told me if I wouldn't kill any
more of them he would make them quit firing. So I told him all right, if he
would do it now. So he blew a little whistle, and they quit shooting and come
down and gave up.
I had killed over twenty before the German major said he would make them give up. I covered him with my automatic and told him if he didn't make them stop firing I would take off his head next. And he knew I meant it. He told me if I didn't kill him, and if I stopped shooting the others in the trench, he would make them surrender.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
He blew a little whistle and they came down and began to gather around and throw down their guns and belts. All but one of them came off the hill with their hands up, and just before that one got to me he threw a little hand grenade which burst in the air in front of me.
I had to touch him off. The rest surrendered without any more trouble. There were nearly 100 of them.
OCTOBER 8th 1918 (continued)
So we had about 80 or 90 Germans there disarmed, and had another line of
Germans to go through to get out. So I called for my men, and one of them
answered from behind a big oak tree, and the others were on my right in the
brush.
So I said, "Let's get these Germans out of here."
One of my men said, "it is impossible."
So I said, "No; let's get them out."
So when my man said that, this German major said, "How many have you
got?" and I said, "I have got a-plenty," and pointed my pistol
at him all the time. In this battle I was using a rifle and a .45 Colt
automatic pistol.
So I lined the Germans up in a line of twos, and I got between the ones in front, and I had the German major before me. So I marched them straight into those other machine guns and I got them.
The German major could speak English as well as I could. Before the war he
used to work in Chicago
I took the major and placed him at the head of the column, and I got behind him and used him as a screen. I poked the automatic in his back and told him to hike. And he hiked.
The major suggested we go down a gully, but I knew that was the wrong way. And I told him we were not going down any gully. We were going straight through the German front line trenches back to the American lines.
It was their second line that I had captured. We sure did get a long way behind the German trenches! And so I marched them straight at that old German front line trench. And some more machine guns swung around and began to spit at us. I told the major to blow his whistle or I would take off his head and theirs too. So he blew his whistle and
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
they all surrendered--all except one. I made the major order him to surrender twice. But he wouldn't. And I had to touch him off. I hated to do it. But I couldn't afford to take any chances and so I had to let him have it.
There were considerably over 100 prisoners now. It was a problem to get them back safely to our own lines. There were so many of them, there was danger of our own artillery mistaking us for a German counterattack and opening upon us. I sure was relieved when we ran into the relief squads that had been sent forward through the brush to help us.
OCTOBER 8th 1918 (continued)
So when I got back to my major's p.c. I had 132 prisoners.
We marched those German prisoners on back into the American lines to the
battalion p.c. (post of command), and there we came to the Intelligence
Department. Lieutenant Woods came out and counted 132 prisoners. And when he
counted them he said, "York
We were ordered to take them out to regimental headquarters at Chattel Chehery, and from there all the way back to division headquarters, and turn them over to the military police. On the way back we were constantly under heavy shell fire and I had to double time them to get them through safely.
There was nothing to be gained by having any more of them wounded or killed. They had surrendered to me, and it was up to me to look after them. And so I did.
I had orders to report to Brigadier General Lindsey, and he said to me,
"Well, York
After a short talk he sent us to some artillery kitchens, where we had a good warm meal. And it sure felt good. Then we rejoined our outfits and with them fought through to our objective, the Decauville Railroad.
And the Lost Battalion was able to come out that night. We cut the Germans off from their supplies when we cut that old railroad, and they withdrew and backed up.
OCTOBER 8th 1918 (continued)
So you can see here in this case of mine where God helped me out. I had been
living for God and working in the church some time before I come to the army.
So I am a witness to the fact that God did help me out of that hard battle; for
the bushes were shot up all around me and I never got a scratch.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
So you can see that God will be with you if you will only trust Him; and I say that He did save me. Now, He will save you if you will only trust Him.
The next morning Captain Danforth sent me back with some stretcher bearers to see if there were any of our American boys that we had missed. But they were all dead. And there were a lot of German dead. We counted twenty-eight, which is just the number of shots I fired. And there were thirty-five machine guns and a whole mess of equipment and small arms.
The salvage corps was busy packing it up. And I noticed the bushes all around where I stood in my fight with the machine guns were all cut down. The bullets went over my head and on either side. But they never touched me.
From the official report made by officers of the Eighty-Second Division to
General Headquarters:
The part which Corporal York individually played in this attack (the capture of
the Decauville Railroad) is difficult to estimate. Practically unassisted, he
captured 132 Germans (three of whom were officers), took about thirty-five
machine guns, and killed no less than twenty-five of the enemy, later found by
others on the scene of York's extraordinary exploit.
This story has been carefully checked in every possible detail from
headquarters of this division and is entirely substantiated.
Although York
The success of this assault had a far reaching effect in relieving the enemy
pressure against American forces in the heart of the Argonne Forest
Following are the affidavits of Privates Donahue, Sacina, Beardsley, and
Wills, unwounded members of York
AFFIDAVIT OF PRIVATE PATRICK DONAHUE
During the shooting I was guarding the mass of Germans taken prisoners and devoted my attention to watching them. When we first came in on the Germans, I fired a shot at them before they surrendered. Afterwards I was busy guarding the prisoners and did not fire a shot. I could only see Privates Wills, Sacina, and Sok. They were also guarding prisoners as I was doing.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
AFFIDAVIT OF PRIVATE MICHAEL A. SACINA
I was guarding the prisoners with my rifle and bayonet on the right flank
of the prisoners. I was so close to these prisoners that the machine gunners
could not shoot at me without hitting their own men. This, I think saved me
from being hit. During the firing, I remained on guard, watching these
prisoners, and unable to turn around and fire myself for this reason. I could
not see any of the other men in my detachment.
From this point I saw the German captain and had aimed my rifle at him when he
blew his whistle for the Germans to stop firing. I saw Corporal York, who
called out to us, and when we all joined him, I saw Americans besides myself.
These were Corporal York, Privates Beardsley, Donahue, Wills, Sok, Johnson and
Konotski.
AFFIDAVIT OF PRIVATE PERCY BEARDSLEY
I was at first near Corporal York, but soon after thought it would be
better to take to cover behind a large tree about fifteen paces in rear of
Corporal York, Privates Dymowski and Warcing were on each side of me and both
were killed by machine gun fire. I saw Corporal York fire his pistol repeatedly
in front of me. I saw Germans who had been hit fall down.
I saw the German prisoners, who were still in a bunch together, waving their
hands at the machine gunners on the hill as if motioning for them to go back.
Finally the fire stopped and Corporal York told me to have the prisoners fall
in column of twos and take my place in the rear.
AFFIDAVIT OF PRIVATE GEORGE W. WILLS
When the heavy firing from the machine guns commenced, I was guarding some
of the German prisoners. During this time I saw only
Privates Donahue, Sacina, Beardsley, and Muzzi. Private Swanson was right near
me when he was shot.
I closed up very close to the Germans with my bayonet on my rifle and prevented
some of them who tried to leave the bunch and get into the bushes from leaving.
I knew my only chance was to keep them together and also keep them between me
and the Germans who were shooting. I heard Corporal York several times shouting
to the machine gunners on the hill to come down and surrender, but from where I
stood I could no t see Corporal York. I saw him, however, when the firing stopped
and he told us to get alongside of the column. I formed those near me in column
of twos.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
FROM THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE EIGHTY-SECOND DIVISION, SECOND DIVISION, AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES.
One exploit in this day's work will always be retold in the military tradition of our country. It is entitled to a place among the famous deeds in arms in legendary or modern warfare.
Early in the attack of this battalion, the progress of G Company on the left was seriously impeded by heavy machine gun fire from a hill directly southwest across the valley from Hill 223. Although this territory was south of the zone of action assigned the Eighty-second Division, it was necessary to reduce this fire or suffer disastrous consequences.
A force of four noncommissioned officers and thirteen privates was sent from the left support platoon of G Company to encircle the hill and silence the enemy guns. This detachment, under Acting Sergeant Early, encircled the hill from the southeast and by a skillful reconnaissance passed through the heavy woods on the east crest and descended to the wooded ravine on the west side of the hill.
The detachment, in working through the underbrush, came upon a German battalion estimated to contain about 250 men, a considerable number of whom were machine gunners. Orders taken later from the pocket of the German battalion commander proved that the mission of this battalion was to launch a counterattack against the left flank of our attack at 10 hours 30 minutes.
About seventy-five Germans were crowded around their battalion commander, apparently engaged in receiving final instruction. A force of machine gunners and infantrymen, however, were lying in fox holes fifty yards away on the western slope of the hill. Other machine gun detachments were located on the north and northeast slopes of this same wooded hill.
The handful of Americans, led by Corporal Early, appeared as a complete surprise to this German battalion. The large body of Germans surrounding the German battalion commander began surrendering to our men, whom the enemy supposed to be the leading eleme nt of a large American force which had enveloped their position.
German machine gunners on the hillside, however, quickly reversed their
guns and poured a hail of bullets into the bottom of the ravine, killing six
and wounding three of the American detachment. All of the noncommissioned
officers were killed or seriously wounded except Corporal Alvin C. York of Pall Mall , Tennessee
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
With Corporal York were seven privates, four of whom were mostly occupied in covering with their rifles the large group of German infantrymen who had thrown down their arms at the first surprise. A few shots were fired by the remaining three Americans, but the chief burden of initiative and achievement fell upon Corporal York.
Crouching close to the huddle of German prisoners, he engaged in a rapid-fire action with the machine gunners and infantrymen on the hillside. The return fire struck just behind him, due to the fact that careful shooting from the hillside was necessary by Germans to avoid injuring their own men a few feet in front of Corporal York.
The American fired all of the rifle ammunition clips on the front of his
belt and then three complete clips from his automatic pistol. In days past he
won many a turkey shoot in the Tennessee
Once a lieutenant on a hillside led a counterattack of a dozen gunners and infantrymen against this extraordinary marksman, who shot the lieutenant through the stomach and killed others before the survivors took cover.
German morale gave way entirely and the battalion commander surrendered his command.
Corporal York placed himself between two officers at the head of the column and distributed the seven Americans on guard along the flanks and in rear of the hastily formed column of prisoners.
On his way back over the hill he picked up a considerable number of additional prisoners, from the north and northeast slopes of the hill. When he reported at the battalion p. c., Lieutenant Woods, the battalion adjutant, Second Battalion, 328th infantry, counted the prisoners and found they totaled three officers and 129 enlisted men. The prisoners proved to be part of the Forty-fifth Reserve Division.
The three wounded Americans were brought in with the column. The six dead Americans were buried later where they had fallen. During the forenoon Lieutenant Cox passed the scene of this fight with a portion of F Company. He estimates that approximately twenty dead Germans lay on the hillside.
After the Armistice, Corporal York received the personal thanks of Major General Duncan, the division commander the Fifth Corps, and General Pershing, the Commander in Chief. He also was given the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Croix de Guerre.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
Among Sergeant York's most treasured honors is the following letter,
written by Lieutenant Colonel Buxton to the girl whom York
Hq. 82d Div., A.P.O. 742,
American E. F., France
26 February, 1919
Miss Gracie Williams,
Pall Mall , Tenn.
My Dear Miss Williams:
It has come to my attention that you are one of the people at home who, by virtue of friendship, is interested in Sergeant Alvin C. York, Company G, 328th Infantry.
Entirely without any suggestion on the part of my friend, Sergeant York, I should like to tell you and his mother something of the very high esteem in which he is held by the officers and men of this division.
Until the 82nd Division entered the fight in the Argonne ,
it was my privilege to command the battalion of which Sgt. York's company was a
part. During those many trying days Sgt. York grew daily in our esteem as very
efficient noncommissioned officer and as an unusual influence for duty and good
conduct among his comrades. Not only was this record maintained during the
terrible battles in the Argonne , but on the
8th of October, 1918, Sgt. York performed acts of extreme heroism and presence
of mind which won him the Distinguished Service Cross and the personal thanks
of Major General Duncan, Major General Summerall, and General Pershing himself.
With a little detachment of men from G Company, he faced an entire German Battalion in an isolated ravine, far from any American assistance. Nine Americans were at once shot down, but Sgt. York fought on until the German major and 131 German officers and men surrendered as prisoners. There were only seven Americans left besides Sgt. York, who had himself personally borne the heaviest brunt of the fighting. This achievement on his part came at a very critical time and unquestionably saved the lives of large numbers of his comrades, who would have later been attacked by this captured battalion.
I will be a great satisfaction to Mrs. York and yourself to know of the respect which all of us feel for the manly Christian Character displayed by this splendid American.
* * * * *
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
After the Armistice was signed, I was ordered to go back to the scene of my fight with the machine guns. General Lindsey and some other generals went with me.
We went over the ground carefully. The officers spent a right smart amount of time examining the hill and the trenches where the machine guns were, and measuring and discussing everything.
And then General Lindsey asked me to describe the fight to him. And I did. And then he asked me to march him out just like I marched the German major out, over the same ground and back to the American lines.
Our general was very popular. He was a natural born fighter and he could swear just as awful as he could fight. He could swear most awful bad.
And when I marched him back to our old lines he said to me, "York 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.
OCTOBER 9th 1918
Argonne Forest, France-- Well now, as we went on fighting our way through the
thick forest of the Argonne woods, we could hear the cries of our boys who were
getting shot, and oh my, we has to sleep by the dead and with the dead. But
when we were seeing so many of our boys being shot, all we could say was just
to say as we saw our fallen comrades--
"Good-by, pal; I don't know
where you're camping now--
Whether you've pitched your
tent 'neath azure skies
Or whether o're your head the
bleak storm winds blow.
I only know that when your final
call came for you
It almost broke my heart to see
you go."
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
But I trust pal, that you were ready to meet that last call. Yes, and now you be careful that the last final call don't find you not ready to meet your God in peace.
OCTOBER 10th 1918
Fleaville, The Argonne Forest.-- We got to
Fleville.
OCTOBER 12th 1918
Sommerance, The Argonne Forest.--We had got to Sommerance, and during this time
we had lost many of our men and were still losing them, as you know that you
can't fight in war without losing men, and the Germans was shelling us awful
with big shells, also gas, and the boys laying there that they couldn't bury.
Oh my, I can't tell you how I felt, and when those big shells would come over
and bust, then I heard my comrades crying and mourning. All we could do was to
trust God to protect us and look up and say--
"Good-by, old pals, your body
sleeps here
'neath the sod;
Your soul, I pray, has gone home to God."
So we stayed in the front at Sommerance until we got relieved by the Eightieth Division boys.
We stayed in actual fighting in the Argonne
from the time we went in, which was the morning of October 8, to November 1.
Over three weeks. Fighting in the front line all the time and through those
terrible woods. And we were mussed up right smart-the woods and us.
There were not many of the Greeks and Italians left. But what were left were still fighting like a sackful of wildcats. I sure did like those boys now.
The nearest I came to getting killed in France
was in an apple orchard in Sommerance in the Argonne .
It was several days after the fight with the machine guns. We had a very heavy
barrage from the Germans suddenly drop down on us and we were ordered to dig in
and to lose no time about it. Some of us were digging in under an apple tree.
The shells were bursting pretty close. But we didn't take much notice of them.
Just kept right on digging.
It's funny: after you have been at the front a right smart while you can almost tell where the shells are going to burst and what size they are. And this morning they were close, but not close enough to scare us. And then they got closer. And we dug faster.
I have dug on farms and in gardens and in road work and on the railroad, but it takes big shells dropping close to make you really dig. And I'm telling you the dirt was flying.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
And then , bang!- one of the big shells struck the ground right in front of us and we all went up in the air. But we all came down again. Nobody was hurt. But it sure was close.
NOVEMBER 1st 1918
Argonne Forest-- So we came out of the lines
to a German rest camp and there we got something to eat.
I was made a sergeant just as quick as I got back out of the lines. But, oh my! so many of my old buddies were missing and we scarcely seemed the same outfit.
NOVEMBER 2nd 1918
Argonne Forest--
NOVEMBER 7th 1918
Aix-Les-Bains--I took train for Aix- Les-Bains. I had a furlough for 10 days.
NOVEMBER 8th 1918
Aix-Les Bains--So I got to Aix-Les-Bains and went to the Hotel De Albion and I
stayed at this hotel from the 8th to 16th and I went around and saw some fine
scenery. I got on a motor boat and went over to Italy
There was a bunch of us had been given a ten day leave to Aix-les- Bains.
We went down there for a rest. We had been in the Argonne
for several weeks. Without any relief and were tired and worn out.
We were staying in private places. There were no military places there. We just went around seeing the historical places, the old Roman baths, and up on the mountain.
NOVEMBER 11th 1918
Aix-Les-Bains.-- and the Armistice was signed. And they sure was a time in that
city that day and night. Yes. Say, did you think that the Armistice was signed
on the eleventh month on the eleventh day and the eleventh hour of 1918? And
another thing, did you ever know that the war just lasted 585 days from the
time that the President declared war against Germany France
holding a seventy-seven mile front in the Argonne Forest
I don't know that I can just exactly tell my feelings at that time. It was awful noisy. All the French were drunk, whooping and hollering. The Americans were drinking with them, all of them. I never did anything much, just went to church and wrote home and read a little.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
I did not go out that night. I was all tired. I was glad the Armistice was signed, glad it were all over. There had been enough fighting and killing. And my feelings were like most all of the American boys. It was all over, and we were ready to go ho me. I felt they had done the thing they should have done, signing the armistice.
NOVEMBER 17th 1918
Champlitte, France--Well, I'll go on. I stopped at Champlitte and the French
had a dance there that night and they had to go by my bed to where they was
dancing, and the girls would pull my feet until I couldn't sleep.
DECEMBER 25th 1918
Langres , France--
She was wearing a smart seal skin coat with a big fox collar and a close fitting seal skin toque with a bright red rose trimming on one side and a little bunch of holly at her throat. So she looked very pleasing. And Mr. Wilson was wearing a large black silk hat with a light gray fur coat. He also had a smile on his face. So that cheered the boys to see Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and hear them talk. Ho ho.
That was on Christmas day, 1918. We went out to parade at a town named Langres and had a review for President and Mrs. Wilson. I don't know how I came to be selected. Divisional orders came for me and the corporal who had been decorated with the D.S.C. to be color bearers for the review to be given for President Wilson.
I didn't have any conversation at all with the President at that time. I
think President Wilson is one of the greatest Presidents America
There is his great leadership of the nation. There is the way he understood all about the war and what we were all fighting for. The Germans, too. But the greatest thing about him was his spiritual side. He believed in God.
JANUARY 2d 1919
Fouvent-Le-Bas-I went to school and stayed there until the 12th.
JANUARY 12th 1919
La Frette.-I come back to my company
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
JANUARY 16th 1919
Prauthoy.-I went to Prauthoy and remained there until the 18th
I didn't begin to go out and travel over France
Their idea was to have me talk to the boys. I was traveling around, in and out, from my division headquarters, something like six weeks.
I spoke in the Y huts and out in the open to the battalions and to the assembled troops on the ground. I got good representation everywhere.
Our division chaplain, Rev. C. Tyler of Milwaukee
FEBRUARY 1st 1919
Prauthoy.-I rode a horse and carried the Eighty-second Division flag in a horse
show.
FEBRUARY 3d 1919
Argonne Forest.-I went back to the Argonne
Forest
FEBRUARY 11th 1919
Prauthoy.-They had a Div. review and I got my D.S.C. that day.
During the fighting in the Argonne , right
at Fleville and at Sommeance and St. Juvin, Headquarters sent a man up there
and he asked me a lot of questions, and questioned my captain and the
lieutenants. And that was the first I knew I was to get anything.
The first decoration I got was the D.S.C. That was on February 11. They lined up the whole division, and General Pershing pinned the D.S.C. on me. He decorated two or three more men at the same time. He decorated one of the stretcher bearers of my platoon.
General Pershing is a great man in my estimation. He is a clean-cut military man. He made a wonderful leader for the American Troops. I would just as soon or a little rather follow General Pershing's command in battle as any man I ever saw or heard of, because I think he is a wonderful commander.
FEBRUARY 16th 1919
Prauthoy-- I went to church. It was Sunday and a rainy day and we had a nice
talk.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
FEBRUARY 19th 1919
Prauthoy-- At 6:30 P.M. I had service at 325 Inf. Headquarters, and we had a
large crowd and a very good time.
February 21st 1919
Luxeuil-- I had service at Luxeuil with the 326 Inf. at 3:45 P.M. And to have
services at 7 P.M. But we started, and the car got out of shape and we couldn't
get there. So I had to call up back to Prauthoy and get another car to come out
and get me and take me back to Prauthoy. It was about daylight next morning. Ho
ho.
FEBRUARY 22d 1919
La Frette-- I went to La Frette to my company to get some things I had there
and to see my pals.
FEBRUARY 23d 1919
Prauthoy-- I went to church there in the Y.M.C.A. We had services there at
10:30 A.M. and also at 7 P.M. as it was Sunday.
February 24th 1919
Champlitte-- I went to Champlitte to have service at 7 P.M. There was dancing.
So I had to wait until they got their dance over, and that was about 7:30 P.M.
So we sing and we had prayer and I went ahead with my little service. So we had
a very nice time.
FEBRUARY 25th 1919
Prauthoy-- I had services at Prauthoy. Had a large crowd and good order.
FEBRUARY 26th 1919
Prauthoy-- On the night of the 26th of February I started for Bordeaux
FEBRUARY 27th 1919
En Route to Bordeaux--
FEBRUARY 28th 1919
Bordeaux-- On the night of the 28th we got to Bordeaux
MARCH 1st 1919
Bordeaux--
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
MARCH 2d 1919
Bordeaux-- It was Sunday and I went to church at Y.M.C.A. at 7 P.M.
MARCH 3d 1919
Bordeaux
MARCH 4th 1919
BORDEAUX.--I went to 327 Inf. at 7 P.M. and gave a lecture. Before I gave the
talk we sang and I prayed and then gave the talk, and then they wanted me to
come back and give another talk on the 5th.
MARCH 5th 1919
BORDEAUX
MARCH 6th 1919
BORDEAUX.--I went out to 327 Inf. and gave them a lecture at 4 P.M. and then
come back to my billet.
MARCH 9th 1919
BORDEAUX
So we have services at 10:30 A.M. and 7 P.M. every Sunday and our Bible class is on Monday at 6:30 P.M. So we are having some good services. And I pray that we will have good results. You know that in Hebrews, second chapter, that Paul says, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation..."
MARCH 14th 1919
ST. SILVA.--I returned back to my company at
St. Silva.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
MARCH 15th.
ST. SILVA.--Went to a ball game.
MARCH 16th.
CASTRES. --It was Sunday. I went back to Castres to church. And I got back to
St. Silva about 10 P.M.
MARCH 25th.
En Route to Paris-- I started to Paris Bordeaux and from there to Paris
MARCH 26th
Paris-- I got to Paris
MARCH 27th
Paris--
MARCH 28th
Paris-- I rode on the Paris
wheel and took a train ride down to St
Louis
MARCH 29th
Paris--
This first trip to Paris
Well, when I was in Paris
I went to the tomb of Napoleon. I went to the soldier's grave where
Perishing placed the wreath on it -the unknown soldier, it was. I went to Versailles
I liked Paris Eiffel Tower
I went to most all the historical places. I walked several miles through town. I remember I got up there and got lost, Ho Ho. I got all turned around in my directions. HO ho. So I got a mademoiselle to tell me what street to go to and where to stop. Some of the people knew me. I got good representation everywhere.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
MARCH 30th
St. Silva.-I got back to my company.
APRIL 6th .
En. Route to Paris to Bordeaux
and I left Bordeaux for Paris
APRIL 7th
Paris --I arrived in Paris
This second time I went to Paris France
I went out to Versailles
I think he is a very great man and a man of great intelligence. He is a
fine leader for an army and I think Europe had
no better leader in command than Marshall Foch.
He impressed me very much each time I met him, although he could not speak English. We had to speak through an interpreter. Like our own Woodrow Wilson, he is a very spiritual man. He is very religious and always goes to church and believes in prayer, which is a fine example.
It is significant that there two great leaders and General Pershing, too, are all religious men who believe in prayer. So the men that led us in the war were put in charge was the war ended. so you see here is proof that the spirit is mightier than the sword.
APRIL 8th
Paris --I saw the queen of Rumania Paris
APRIL9th
Paris --I was at the grave of Lafayette Lafayette
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
And I also saw a wreath of flowers President Wilson put on the grave on the 20th day of November, 1918, and I also saw the little village where they are going to lay the bodies of 50,000 American Soldiers. The place should always be near and dear to all Americans. The place is Montfaucon.
APRIL 10th
St. Bordeaux
St.
APRIL 12th
St.
St.
APRIL 13th
St. Silva--Sunday. I went to church at 7:30 P. M. We sang and had a good
service. The reading was the 16th chapter of St. John
APRIL 18th
St.
St.
APRIL 20th
St. Silva--Easter Sunday. Me and two more of my pals went to a French house and
had us a fine Easter dinner fixed, and then we went to church.
APRIL 24th
St Silva--We didn't do anything but police up in the morning, and in the
afternoon we had a review, and then Marshal Foch pinned the Palm Croix De
Guerre on me.
APRIL 28th
St. Silva--We took a bath in the morning and
in the afternoon we didn't do anything much.
APRIL 29th
Entrance Camp--We left St. Silva and went to the entrance camp and I went to
the Salvation Army hut.
APRIL 30th
Permanent Camp--We went into the permanent camp, and went through the Goodir
Mill in the afternoon.
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
MAY 9th
Permanent Camp--On the morning of the 9th all of my company left but 70 men. So
I had to stay with them
We stayed there around Bordeaux
We got ready to sail from Bordeaux
On board U.S.S. Ohio.--In the morning we went down to the docks and ate a little, and then we got on the Ohio, and at 2:26 P.M. we broke from the shores of France and by dark we was out of sight of land.
MAY 11th
At Sea.--Sunday. Sick. We had awful rough seas.
MAY 12th
At Sea.--Awful rough seas. Sick.
MAY 13th
At Sea.--Awful rough. Sick.
MAY 14th
At Sea.--Awful rough. Sick.
MAY 15th
At Sea.--Awful rough.
We had about three or four days of storms and most awful rough seas. I was
right smart sick for several days. Had to stay down part of the time in my
berth and part of the time on the top deck.
I sure would have liked to see some trees or those old mountains. That old
devil sea. I didn't feel like talking or doing anything but lying down and
being left tolerably alone. And then I knew, too, they were going to give me a
big reception when I arrived in New
York
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
They had wired out to sea. And that had me more scared than those machine
guns in the Argonne . I would have got out and
walked if I could have.
MAY 16th
At Sea.--Nice.
MAY 17th
At Sea.--Nice.
MAY 18th
At Sea.--Was Sunday. We had services in the afternoon.
MAY 19th
At Sea.--Had a storm and the sea was rough.
MAY 20th
At Sea.--Was pretty.
May 21st
At Sea.--Was nice.
MAY 22nd .
Hoboken , N.J. Tennessee Society had
a 5 day furlough for me to see New
York City
The Tennessee
By the time they had finished writing about me in their newspapers I had whipped the whole German army single handed. Ho ho. Those newspaper men! But they were very nice. They gave me a right smart reception on my arrival. They drove me through the streets in an open car, and the streets were crowded and we could only go slow.
It seemed as though most all of the people in the streets knew me and when
they began to throw the paper and the ticker tape and the confetti out of the
windows of those great big skyscrapers, I wondered what it was at first. It
looked just like a blizzard. Ho ho. I didn't know it was for me until the Tennessee
I don't know what all they did for me, but they did plenty. They took me to the Waldorf Astoria the night of my arrival and we had a little dinner there. I tried to get my mother
Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary
(Cont’d.)
over the long distance telephone, but we couldn't get through. I wanted to ride in the subway, and , sure enough, next day they had a special train for me. Ho ho.
It was very nice. But I sure wanted to get back to my people where I belonged, and the little old mother and the little mountain girl who were waiting. And I wanted to be in the mountains again and get out with hounds, and tree a coon or knock over a red fox. And in the midst of the crowds and the dinners and receptions I couldn't help thinking of these things. My thoughts just wouldn't stay hitched.
MAY 23rd
New York City.-- I was looking at New York City Washington ,
D.C. Honorable Hull
MAY 25th.
Washington , D.C. --So
I got to Washington
So we drove a car all over Washington
In Washington , D.C.
From Washington I returned to New York and went out to Camp
Merritt and got my transportation
papers to Fort Oglethorpe , Georgia
I came on home to Pall Mall ,
Tennessee
I didn't do any hunting for a few days. I'm telling you I went hunting Gracie first.
And then, when it was all over and I had taken off the old uniform of the all American Division and got back into the overalls. I got out with the hounds and the old muzzle loader; and I got to thinking and wondering what it was all about.
And I went back to the place on the place on the mountain where I prayed before the war, and received my assurance from God that I would go and come back. And I just stayed out there and thanked that same God who had taken me through the war.
THE END
Alvin
Cullum York
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