Sergeant York and the Great War. Alvin

¶ … Sergeant York and the Great War.

Alvin York was a quiet, not specifically adventurous man who lived in Tennessee and was content to keep on living his days out there until he was drafted in the Great War, World War I. There he accomplished amazing feats of bravery, distinguishing himself. His war diary published in 1928 by Mr. Tom Skeykill gives a faithful rendering of his feats. The book is a reproduction of the war diary written in memorable and fresh prose and appealing to youngsters and older readers alike. It is accompanied by pictures and general information as well as letters and interviews about the War and enables readers to feel what it was like to fight alongside Alvin York.

Alvin Cullum York (December 13, 1887 -- September 2, 1964), one of the most decorated men of World War 1, received much acclaim during his war days. One of his greatest feats was leading an attack against a German campout and capturing 132 Germans, killing 28 others, and confiscating 32 machine guns. He received the Medal of Honor for that feat.

Born in a two-room log cabin in Tennessee and the youngest of 11 children, York attended school for only nine months before helping his mother care for the family by working first in railroad construction and then as a logger.

When World War I broke out, York was drafted and in the diary that he kept records how he refused to sign documents provided by his pastor that he seek exemption from war as conscious observer and likewise declined to sign similar documents provided by his mother that he appeal for discharge based on the grounds of having to support her.

York having been a religious Christian of the Methodist persuasion, the book is replete with Christian passages and Christian spirit. He tell show, troubled by conflict between pacifism and obligation to fight in war, he argued with matter with his company commander, Captain Edward Courtney Bullock Danforth and his battalion commander, Major Gonzalo Edward Buxton both who were devout Christians themselves and pointing to Biblical passages, they persuaded him that war for a rightful purpose was praiseworthy. Granted a leave of 10 days, he returned convinced that God wanted him to fight and would, accordingly, protect him.

Describing his actions that earned him the Medal of Honor, York tells about that fateful day, October 8, 1918, when he was enlisted to secure German positions along the Decauville rail-line north of Chatel-Chehery, France

The Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldn't tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from... And I'm telling you they were shooting straight... And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard (p.30).

At the end of that surprise attack, York and 7 men marched 132 Germans to American lines and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross followed by the Medal of Honor for his heroism.

York later received awards from countries that included France, Italy, and Spain and, in total, received almost 50 medals. Yet, throughout it all York remained the humble, mountain man that he always was, simple, staunch and devoted to the Lord.

In the colloquial English of the mountainous Tennessee region he tells us how at the end of the war:

Then I went out on the mountainside where I used to pray and when it was all quiet and there was nobody around nohow, I returned thanks to God. He had given me my assurance that even if I didn't think it right I should go jes the same; and would be protected from harm; and would come back without a hair of my head injured (p.202).