Sgt. Robert Dwyer of the Nahant Police Dept. displays the German Maxim machine gun captured by Sgt. Alvin York in a famous and heroic episode during World War I.
Posted on 04/24/2007 11:36:35 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets
Sgt. Robert Dwyer of the Nahant Police Dept. displays the German Maxim machine gun captured by Sgt. Alvin York in a famous and heroic episode during World War I.
NAHANT - The Nahant Public Library wants to sell one of its most valuable possessions: a German machine gun captured by Army Sgt. Alvin C. York during World War I.
How did the library trustees become the weapon’s keeper?
According to local officials and historic documents, Nahant resident Mayland Lewis was on the battlefield in the Argonne Forest of France on Oct. 8, 1918, when Sgt. York led seven soldiers in a daring attack on a German machine gun nest, killing 25 and capturing 132 others, including four officers.
Lewis was assigned to the adjutant’s staff because he was skilled in shorthand and typing, having worked as a law clerk for a Lynn judge named Sisk. The company commander ordered Lewis to take notes on York’s amazing feat of bravery and what transpired during the surrender.
Many of the stunned German soldiers still clutched their weapons, holding them passively above their heads. They were ordered to stack them near the adjutant’s headquarters. Lewis plucked the deadly Maxim mac-hine gun and a Mauser rifle from the pile and shipped them home to Nahant. It was a story that Lewis seldom told, but one which his son, Nippy, would memorize and pass down.
According to Nippy Lewis, on Armistice Day, which celebrated the end of WWI, the Nahant Boy Scouts paraded the machine gun along the streets of the peninsula in a small red wagon.
Nippy Lewis’ Dec. 17, 2002 letter to Nahant historian Calantha Sears, explains that his father was not an ardent motion picture fan, but eagerly attended a showing of the movie Warner Brothers made in 1941 entitled “Sergeant York,” starring Gary Cooper. “We went to see it and the story came out,” he wrote.
Sgt. York, who was born in Pall Mall, Tenn., was the Great War’s most-decorated soldier, receiving the Medal of Honor and several other major commendations, including the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre. Witnesses said the 30-year-old infantry sergeant charged the Maxim machine gun nest head-on after this platoon suffered heavy casualties in the trench warfare. The water-cooled Maxim machine gun was a state-of-the-art killing machine, credited with cutting down more American soldiers than any other infantry weapon.
The vintage machine gun’s connection to Sgt. York gives it far greater value, according to estimates provided by auctioneers who believe it could fetch more than $100,000 from collectors.
Daniel deStefano, the library director, said the Lewis family gave the machine gun to the town. Since there was no Nahant Historical Society at the time, it was taken to the library for safekeeping.
Sears said one of the librarians was uncomfortable with the weapon in such close proximity, so it was temporarily taken to the American Legion, but eventually ended up in the library’s attic.
“I literally tripped over it one day, about three years ago,” deStefano recalled. “That’s when we got interested in finding out more about what it might be worth because we are trying to raise money for a library expansion. We thought it might be better to sell the machine gun than ask the taxpayers for more money.”
John Welsh, a library trustee, said a bureaucratic tangle soon emerged and hasn’t been resolved. “It’s a machine gun and it’s not registered, so apparently we can’t sell it until we find a legal way to own it,” he said. “We’ve had estimates that it could be worth up to $200,000, presuming we can show its relationship to Sgt. York.”
Both Welsh and deStefano said at least two agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) have listened to the story but offered no recommendations, other than to suggest the machine gun be destroyed.
“Imagine destroying the German machine gun that was captured by Sgt. York just because it’s not registered,” said Welsh, adding that the library trustees’ decision to seek legislative help was equally unproductive. “We didn’t get anywhere. It seems nobody wants to touch the problem and be credited as the politician who put another machine gun back into society. But it’s not like we’re going to sell it to some street gang. Besides, there’s no ammunition.”
According to deStefano, getting permission to sell the weapon could take an act of Congress. Meanwhile, the machine gun captured by Sgt. York remains in an evidence locker at the Nahant police station. The Historical Society has been caring for the Mauser rifle.
Negotiations with the ATF have put deStefano in a funk. He described a four-way conference call during which an obviously young ATF agent admitted not knowing the story of Sgt. York or much about WWI. “That’s the person the ATF has making the decision about this machine gun. It’s no wonder we didn’t get very far,” he said. “At that point, I advised the trustees to go the legislative route.”
Sears, too, recalled difficulty getting the machine gun for a Historical Society event a few years ago. “We had a WWI poster exhibit and we asked if we could use the gun as part of it. We had 46 WWI posters that Don Hodges’ father had collected,” she said, noting that the Nahant police told her it would not be possible because the weapon isn’t registered. “From what the police chief explained, there was a window of opportunity in the 1980s when we could have registered it, but that has come and gone.”
Despite the roadblocks, deStefano, Welsh and others say they are going to again seek legislative help from U.S. Sen. John Kerry and U.S. Rep. John Tierney.
“The library ran out of space 60-70 years ago. Expanding it is a long-term project that could cost $2-3 million,” deStefano said. “It requires the library commissioners to do an architectural study and come up with a plan. It would be great if the sale of the machine gun helped that process along. But if we can’t get it registered and sold, the gun itself should not be destroyed. It should go to a historical museum that can keep it securely.”
I want it.
‘other than to suggest the machine gun be destroyed.’
Mother!@#$%^&!!!!!!!!
I bet the Infantry Museum at Fort Benning would take it, duh. We could go see it and honor Sgt. Yorks brave actions.
Hey,this *is* Massachusetts!
First Edition?
Yeah, but the library wants the MONEY!
I'd say "A whole lot more..."
Do they want to pay $200 Grand for it?
I bet the West Point museum would accept, too.
After what the government put York through after the war, perhaps the right thing to do would be to give any proceeds to Alvin York’s remaining family members. All Americans should know THIS story which again proves that where government is concerned, no good deed goes unpunished.
***********
Alvin York’s Experience with the IRS!
We all know the story from the wonderful Gary Cooper film about one of the greatest Christian heroes of WWI (or any era, for that matter). What follows is a partial reprint from a piece which ran in the 1/6/98 issue of The New American magazine and tells – as Paul Harvey would say – the rest of the story:
(Start New American piece)
Upon returning to America, Sergeant York was showered with offers of fame and fortune, including a nationwide tour, endorsements, and movie deals. But such was not in York’s character, who claimed “I…felt that to take money like that would be commercializing my uniform and soldering.” York wrote in his diary: “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 dinners and receptions I couldn’t help thinking of these things.”
Alvin York went home to his mountains. He made his way to the same mountain where he prayed to God two years earlier for guidance, and there thanked God for bringing him home safely from the war.
In 1927, York established the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute for the boys and girls of the mountains who had few educational opportunities. By 1937, York was no longer able to operate the school and it became a special part of the Tennessee public school system. In 1941, the story of Alvin York was made into a movie starring Gary Cooper, who won the Academy Award for the role. Alvin York acted as an adviser to the film. In 1952, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and became bedridden.
By 1961, Alvin York, one of America’s greatest military heroes, was partially paralyzed, almost blind, and virtually penniless. (Emphasis below added by Dick Bachert)
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, THROUGH THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, REPAID ITS DEBT BY SUING YORK FOR BACK TAXES. THE IRS CLAIMED THAT YORK’S ROYALTIES FROM THE MOVIE, MOST OF WHICH HAD GONE TO CHARITY, SHOULD BE TAXED AT A HIGHER RATE THAN YORK HAD USED. IN ALL, THE IRS CLAIMED YORK OWED THE U.S.GOVERNMENT $85,442, PLUS AN ADDITIONAL $87,155 IN INTEREST. THE IRS OFFERED TO SETTLE FOR $25,000 HOWEVER, WHEN IT BECAME APPARENT THAT ALL OF YORK’S ASSETS DID NOT EQUAL THE $172,597 SOUGHT. WHEN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WAS ALERTED TO SERGEANT YORK’S PLIGHT, INDIVIDUALS CHIPPED IN OVER $50,000 – WHICH COVERED THE DEBT WITH MONEY LEFT OVER FOR A TRUST FUND.”
(End of New American excerpt.)
The New American
Box 8040
Appleton, WI 54913-9895
Yah, that’d be a good place for it.
Or... why not the Smithsonian? They’d take good care of it.
Any number of museums would have a good place for it, Benning, perhaps the most obvious. York was assigned to the 82nd Division (not Airborne at the time, obviously), so Bragg would also be a good place for it, not to mention Aberdeen.
Given its place in American History, and the technical innovation of the Maxim, the Smithsonian should not be ruled out, either.
That would be a great exhibit for the NRA’s museum.
They could certainly raise the money.
I’ve got a better idea. Anyone have any 7.92mm?
I think the 82nd Museum at Fort Bragg would love to get their hands on it. They were there, ya’ know.
I would think that the Infantry Museum at Fort Benning would find a prominent home for it.
Idiots.
That is a nice piece, but I’d like to have a MG 42 also.
Yes, the ATF has everyone's best interests at heart, and is ever vigilant about preserving historical artifacts.
/sarc
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.