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Back in the 90s I was a military police captain serving in Korea. My battalion commander was on leave, and his XO, a major was left in charge. This major was a very old school, anachronistic, rank-conscious, soft-spoken southern gentleman who spoke with a soft Mississippi drawl. One day he called me and said, "Captain Jay, I want you to meet with me in the morning. I got a call from a Colonel York with the ____ Military Intelligence detachment so this needs to be kept hush hush." I jokingly asked him if the colonel was any relationship to Alvin York, and my major wryly said, "Well Captain J, maybe you can ask him."

So the following morning we met with Colonel York and it was over an operational issue the Colonel wanted to work out with the military police and we were glad to accommodate. As we were wrapping up, the colonel opened his wallet up to give us his business card, and I noticed he had a Tennessee Driver's license. Knowing Alvin York was from Tennessee, I couldn't help myself and asked, "Hey sir, you wouldn't happen to be related to Alvin York?" My major cringed at my impertinence, but the Colonel just smiled and said, "Yep. I'm his grandson."

After I returned stateside, the History Channel had a brief series, "Tales of the Gun." One episode was on the guns of WWI and recounted the story of Alvin York. Sure enough, they interviewed the same Colonel York I had sat with in that office in Korea a year or two earlier.

Another brush with fame I had was about 10 years before that. I was in college and dating a gal whose mom had gone to high school with, and was good friends with Mercedes Ruehl who had just made it big with, "Married to the Mob." She had dropped by to visit my GF's mom and I got to have dinner with her.