He was well rewarded, however, receiving lavish press coverage at home and the Congressional Medal of Honor, in addition to the French Croix de Guerre (and a fulsome citation from Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch). With the aid of a German Major captured earlier York brought in a total of 132 German prisoners, a remarkable feat. Having shot some 17 gunners via sniping, York was charged by seven German soldiers who realized that he was operating on his own. With 11 of York's men guarding the captured prisoners (and with the other six killed) York resolved to proceed alone and tackle the German gunners ranged against them. Initially successful without coming under fire, the small expedition took a number of prisoners before the Germans launched a heavy counterattack. York, an acting Corporal, led 17 men in action against a German stronghold, the aim being to secure the position and return with German prisoners. Once in France, the semi-literate York earned lifetime fame for his part in an attack in the Argonne Forest against German machine gun positions on 8 October 1918. During training, however, he was convinced by his battalion commander, Gonzalo Edward Buxton - a fellow Bible student - that the Bible sanctioned active service. entry into World War I, York initially returned his draft papers- before they were summarily re-sent to him by the draft board, at which stage he was drafted into 328th Regiment, 82nd Infantry. Following a religious conversion in 1911 - he became lay deacon of a local pacifist sect - he declared himself a convinced pacifist.Ĭonsequently, with the U.S. This skill was to be demonstrated with high effect during the war.ĭespite his remarkable reputation for bravery and the win-at-all-costs attitude displayed during his wartime service, York was and remained a pacifist. Growing up in poverty in Tennessee, young Alvin York became a crack marksman while hunting food for himself and his family. He attended school only for brief periods when he was not needed on the farm and was estimated to have obtained the equivalent of a 3rd-grade education by the time he became an adult. Alvin worked on the family farm from the age of 6. The family had a small farm in Pall Mall in Fentress County, Tennessee, where they lived in a one-room cabin. Alvin Cullum York (1887-1964) ended the First World War as one of America's most famous soldiers, with fame and popular recognition assured following a remarkable act of courage and coolness in October 1918.Īlvin was born on 13 December 1887, the third of the eleven children of William York and Mary (Brooks) York.
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