Alvin York
When he was asked after this battle, by his commander who knew his beliefs, “why did you do this when your beliefs are to the contrary?”
York replied that he had to stop the German machine guns because they were killing many of his fellow soldiers.
The below excerpts are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York:
York was drafted into the United States Army and served in Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Infantry Division at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Deeply troubled by the conflict between his pacifism and his training for war, he spoke at length with his company commander, Captain Edward Courtney Bullock Danforth (1894–1973) of Augusta, Georgia and his battalion commander, Major Gonzalo Edward Buxton (1880–1949) of Providence, Rhode Island, a devout Christian himself. Citing Biblical passages about violence ("He that hath no sword, let him sell his cloak and buy one." "Render unto Caesar ..." "... if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight."), they persuaded York to reconsider the morality of his participation in the war. Granted a 10-day leave to visit home, he returned convinced that God meant for him to fight and would keep him safe, as committed to his new mission as he had been to pacifism.[12][14]...
Of his deeds, York said to his brigade commander, General Julian Robert Lindsey, in 1919:
A higher power than man guided and watched over me and told me what to do.[30]..
York refused many offers to profit from his fame, including thousands of dollars offered for appearances, product endorsements, newspaper articles, and movie rights to his life story. Instead, he lent his name to various charitable and civic causes.[37] To support economic development, he campaigned for the Tennessee government to build a road to service his native region, succeeding when a highway through the mountains was completed in the mid-1920s and named Alvin C. York Highway.[38] The Nashville Rotary organized the purchase, by public subscription, of a 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm, the one gift that York accepted. However, it was not the fully equipped farm he was promised, requiring York to borrow money to stock it. He subsequently lost money in the farming depression that followed the war. Then the Rotary was unable to continue the installment payments on the property, leaving York to pay them himself. In 1921, he had no option but to seek public help, resulting in an extended discussion of his finances in the press, some of it sharply critical. Debt in itself was a trial: "I could get used to most any kind of hardship, but I'm not fitted for the hardship of owing money." Only an appeal to Rotary Clubs nationwide and an account of York's plight in the New York World brought in the required contributions by Christmas 1921.[39]...
During World War II, York attempted to re-enlist in the Army,[43][44] however at fifty-four years of age, overweight,[43] near-diabetic,[45] and with evidence of arthritis, he was denied enlistment as a combat soldier. Instead, he was commissioned a major in the Army Signal Corps[43][45] and he toured training camps and participated in bond drives in support of the war effort, usually paying his own travel expenses. Gen. Matthew Ridgway later recalled that York "created in the minds of farm boys and clerks...the conviction that an aggressive soldier, well-trained and well-armed, can fight his way out of any situation." He also raised funds for war-related charities, including the Red Cross. He served on his county draft board, and when literacy requirements forced the rejection of large numbers of Fentress County men, he offered to lead a battalion of illiterates himself, saying they were "crack shots."[46] Although York served during the war with the honorary rank of Colonel in the Army Signal Corps[43][45] and as a Colonel with the Seventh Infantry of the Tennessee State Guard,[47] newspapers continued to refer to him as "Sgt. York."[48]..
In the late 1940s he called for toughness in dealing with the Soviet Union and did not hesitate to recommend using the atomic bomb in a first strike: "If they can't find anyone else to push the button, I will."[74] He questioned the failure of United Nations forces to use the atomic bomb in Korea.[74] In the 1960s he criticized Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's plans to reduce the ranks of the National Guard and reserves: “Nothing would please Khrushchev better.”[75]...York suffered from health problems throughout his life. He had gallbladder surgery in the 1920s and suffered from pneumonia in 1942. Described in 1919 as a "red-haired giant with the ruddy complexion of the outdoors" and "standing more than 6 feet... and tipping the beam at more than 200 pounds,"[76] by 1945 he weighed 250 pounds and in 1948 he had a stroke. More strokes and another case of pneumonia followed, and he was confined to bed from 1954, further handicapped by failing eyesight. He was hospitalized several times during his last two years.[77][78] York died at the Veterans Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 2, 1964, of a cerebral hemorrhage. After a funeral service in his Jamestown church, with Gen. Matthew Ridgway representing President Lyndon Johnson,[79] York was buried at the Wolf River Cemetery in Pall Mall.[80] His funeral sermon was delivered by Richard G. Humble, General Superintendent of the Churches of Christ in Christian Union.[81] Humble also preached Mrs. York's funeral in 1984
Ping Christian souldiers. If need be may we be at least as brave in the good fight of faith as York was against the Germans in WW1.
Alvin York
Part of my family are direct descendants of Alvin York.
I heartily and without any reservation recommend reading a new biography of Alvin York that came out last year:
“Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne” by Douglas V. Mastriano
http://kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=3599#.VQNTdZV0w5s
And Mr. Mastriano discusses fully the Gary Cooper movie “Sergeant York” and the changes in the movie that were mostly approved by the real Sgt. York.
Whoa. Am I reading this right? Sergeant York was involved in the rescue of the lost battalion?
If this is true I've learned something today.
A less well known but equally amazing story is of Lt. Dan Edwards, who received the MoH. He was knocked down and pinned when a shell exploded and a tree fell on his arm as eight Germans approached. He freed his pistol, killed three, and the other five surrendered. He ordered them to lift the tree off his arm, then began marching them back to allied lines. Another shell came in, killed one of the Germans and injured Edwards’ leg so he couldn’t walk. He instructed the Germans to make a stretcher (don’t know how they did that) and had the remaining three Germans carry him back to the American lines. This is pretty much the story on his MoH presentation, although some of the details apparently were later embelleshed further by Edwards himself. Still, no doubt this was one bad dude.
The Veterans Hospital in Murfreesboro on I-24 is named for Alvin C York..
>And the prisoners were lying down and the machine guns had to shoot over them to get me.
AHA! York was using human shields in violation of the [later] Geneva Convention! Didn’t see that in the movie. He should have called a truce, removed the prisoners and then faced the machine guns.
/sarc
/sarc
/sarc
/sarc
/sarc
Sgt York ping
>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.
AHA! Threatening to shoot a prisoner is TORTURE, another violation of the future Geneva Convention!
/more sarc
/more sarc
/more sarc
/more sarc
/more sarc
Sgt. York would be COURT MARTIALED today! And that’s not sarcasm.
Big ‘ol bookmark of a great American hero!
Just like a flock of turkeys...
Am I bad for finding this bit mildly funny?
Bump later read.
Shoot the ones in back first so the ones in front don’t get spooked — smart turkey hunting.