After weeks of debate and counseling, York relented to the arguments of his company commander, George Edward Buxton, and agreed that there were times when war was moral and ordained by God. He agreed to fight. On October 8, , Corporal Alvin C. York and sixteen other soldiers under the command of Sergeant Bernard Early were dispatched to take control of the Decauville railroad in the Chatel-Chehery sector of the Meuse-Argonne sector.
The men misread their French language map and mistakenly wound up behind enemy lines. A brief firefight ensued, which resulted in the unexpected surrender of a superior German force. Once the Germans realized the size of the American contingent, machine gunners on the hill overlooking the scene turned their weapons on their own troops, after ordering them to lie down.
Sergeant Early suffered seventeen bullet wounds and turned the command over to Corporals Harry Parsons and William Cutting, who ordered York to silence the machine guns. Although York never claimed that he acted alone, only Sergeant Early and Corporal Cutting received acknowledgment for their participation in the event; they were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in Ironically, York also represented a rejection of mechanization and modernization because of his dependence on personal skill.
Once back in Tennessee further surprises awaited him. York reportedly kills over 20 German soldiers and captures an additional at the head of a small detachment in the Argonne Forest near the Meuse River in France. The exploits later earned York the Medal of Honor. Born in in a log cabin near the Tennessee-Kentucky border, York was the third of 11 children in a family supported by subsistence farming and hunting. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a fundamentalist Christian around After being denied conscientious-objector status, York enlisted in the 82nd Infantry Division and in May arrived in France for active duty on the Western Front.
He served in the successful Saint-Mihiel offensive in September of that year, was promoted to corporal and given command of his own squad. York and his battalion were given the task of seizing German-held positions across a valley; after encountering difficulties, the small group of soldiers—numbering some 17 men—were fired upon by a German machine-gun nest at the top of a nearby hill.
The gunners cut down nine men, including a superior officer, leaving York in charge of the squad. As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. 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. From that position he shot and killed 17 Geman soldiers one after the other, then shot eight more with his pistol, killing three and wounding five. The surviving Germans had had enough and surrendered en masse to York; the final tally of captured German soldiers, counting the 20 the squad had taken earlier, was Alvin York managed to work his way with his squad and the prisoners through the bombed-out wasteland and back to the headquarters of the th Regiment.
York was promoted to sergeant and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his amazing feat. At the end of the war he returned to Tennessee, in , married Gracie and settled on a farm presented to him by his home state.
The modest hero turned down many offers for endorsements, claiming "this uniform ain't for sale," and used the proceeds from the book and movie of his life Sergeant York to establish schools for poor mountain children. Alvin York died in his home in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 2, Sign In. Edit Alvin C. Showing all 9 items. In addition, during this period conscientious objectors were still drafted and typically assigned non-combat roles. In November, York was drafted into the U.
Army, and though his conscientious objector status was considered, he was sent to basic training. Arriving, he proved a crack shot but was seen as an oddity because he did not wish to fight. During this time, he had extensive conversations with his company commander, Captain Edward C.
Danforth, and his battalion commander, Major G. Edward Buxton, relating to the Biblical justification for war. A devout Christian, Buxton cited a variety of Biblical sources to counter his subordinate's concerns. Challenging York's pacifist stance, the two officers were able to convince the reluctant soldier that war could be justified.
Following a day leave to visit home, York returned with a firm belief that God meant for him to fight. Reaching the Continent, York's division spent time along the Somme as well as at Toul, Lagney, and Marbache, where they underwent a variety of training to prepare them for combat operations along the Western Front. Promoted to corporal, York took part in the St. With the successful conclusion of fighting in that sector, the 82nd shifted northward to take part in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
Entering the fighting on October 7 to relieve units of the 28th Infantry Division, York's unit received orders that night to advance the next morning to take Hill and press on to sever the Decauville Railroad north of Chatel-Chehery. Advancing around 6 a. Moving forward from the hill, York's unit was forced to attack through a triangular valley and quickly came under German machine-gun fire on several sides from the adjacent hills.
This stalled the attack as the Americans began taking heavy casualties. In an effort to eliminate the machine guns, 17 men led by Sergeant Bernard Early, including York, were ordered to work around into the German rear. Taking advantage of the brush and hilly nature of the terrain, these troops succeeded in slipping behind the German lines and advanced up one of the hills opposite the American advance.
In doing so, they overran and captured a German headquarters area and secured a large number of prisoners including a major. While Early's men began securing the prisoners, the German machine gunners up the slope turned several of their guns and opened fire on the Americans.
This killed six and wounded three, including Early. This left York in command of the remaining seven men. With his men behind cover guarding the prisoners, York moved to deal with the machine guns.
Beginning in a prone position, he utilized the shooting skills he had honed as a boy. Picking off the German gunners, York was able to move to a standing position as he evaded enemy fire. During the course of the fight, six German soldiers emerged from their trenches and charged at York with bayonets. Running low on rifle ammunition, he drew his pistol and dropped all six before they reached him.
Switching back to his rifle, he returned to sniping at the German machine guns.
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