1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:04,480 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, We've put together a survey for listeners of 2 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor and we want to hear from you. 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: Tell us what you love about the show, what we 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: can improve on, or stories you think we've missed. We're 5 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: committed to making this show even better and you can 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: help to take the survey. Visit bit dot lee slash 7 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: MH survey. That's bit dot l y slash MH survey. 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: The link is also in our show notes below. 9 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 2: Pushkin. 10 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: At three in the morning and the pitch dark and 11 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: drizzling rain, the men were told that it was time 12 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: to march. It was October eighth, nineteen eighteen. Company G 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: of the three to twenty eighth Infantry of the US 14 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: Army had been in France for almost five months, sleeping 15 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: in wet and dirty trenches, enduring German bombardments that rattled 16 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: their bones and made their ears ring, strapping on masks 17 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: to save themselves from the suffocating and burning and blinding 18 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,679 Speaker 1: mustard gas, watching as their comrades got picked off by 19 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: sniper fire, and now in the blackest part of the night, 20 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: Company G was on the move. They marched past bombed 21 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: out towns and trees that had been burned to stubbs. 22 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: The road was a maze of trucks and horses, slippery 23 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: and almost impossible to navigate. Their wet boots hit the 24 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: puddled roads, and a kind of drum beat, the clump 25 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: of horseshoes keeping time, the boom and flash of German 26 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: artillery shells serving as terrifying punctuation. Deep in the mass 27 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: of men was Private Alvin York. He had come to 28 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: France from a time rural town in Tennessee, leaving the 29 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: county of his birth for the very first time at 30 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: the age of twenty nine. Now he was here wrestling 31 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: with the fact that he was being sent into a 32 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: terrible battle, one that would see certain death for some, 33 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: if not most, of his company. He was wrestling with 34 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: something else as well. He was a man of intense faith. 35 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: He had committed himself to the service of God and 36 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: the Bible. He believed wholeheartedly and one of the main 37 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 1: tenants of Christianity thou shalt not kill. Sniper bullets zip 38 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: past the muddy and exhausted men as they finally reached 39 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: their destination, a hill near the French town of Chatel Jahari. 40 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: On the far side of the hill, an entrenched German 41 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: force weighted with machine guns pointed at the fields below. 42 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: When they reached the top of the hill, the men 43 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: of company were told at six ten a m. Zero hour, 44 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: you'll go over the top down to those fields into 45 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: the sights of those waiting German guns. At zero hour, 46 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: the men fixed their bayonets and they went over the 47 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: hill into the shooting. I'm Jr. Martinez and this is 48 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage. The Medal of Honor 49 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: is the highest military decoration in the United States, awarded 50 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: for gallantry and bravery and combat at the risk of life, 51 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: above and beyond the call of duty. Each candidate must 52 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: be approved all the way up the chain of command, 53 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: from the supervisory officer in the field to the White House. 54 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: This show is about those heroes, what they did, what 55 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: it meant, and what their stories tell us about the 56 00:03:55,520 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: nature of courage and sacrifice. Happened on that October day, 57 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: in that valley, that death trap would give America the 58 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: hero that they needed at a moment when thousands of 59 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: their brothers, sons, and fathers were coming home in coffins. 60 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: That hero would be Alvin York And in the weeks 61 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,039 Speaker 1: and months and years that followed, his story would be 62 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: polished and shined up till it became a myth for 63 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: Alvin York. That myth would become a way to do 64 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: good in the world, it would also be a terrible burden. 65 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,359 Speaker 3: It's not your creed or your high, not the color 66 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 3: of your eyes that makes an Americans. It's our freedom, man, 67 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 3: equality over the Constitution, and our scale of rights that 68 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 3: makes in the medical in an almighty fighter. 69 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: That's Alvin York you're hearing. And descended from a long 70 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,559 Speaker 1: line of fighters. Both his grandfathers had served the Union 71 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,919 Speaker 1: in the Civil War. Keeping the country free ran in 72 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: the family. 73 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 4: Once the man. 74 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 3: Asked tasted that freedom, he'd rather die fighting than to 75 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 3: do without it for himself and his children. 76 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: Alvin grew up in Paul Mall, a tiny mountain hamlet 77 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,920 Speaker 1: right around where the famous Davy Crockett supposedly wrestled a bear, 78 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,559 Speaker 1: many many miles from what anyone would consider an actual town. 79 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: Alvin's father was a blacksmith, and his mom raised eleven kids. 80 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,280 Speaker 1: They all lived in a little cabin that once had 81 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: been a corncrib. School was only open a couple of 82 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: months a year, and young Alvin got the equivalent of 83 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: a second grade education. When Alvin was in his early twenties, 84 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: his father died, which meant Alvin was the head of 85 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: the family. He didn't take it well. According to his granddaughter, 86 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: Deborah York. 87 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 5: He became kind of the bread winner, he often said. 88 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 5: The pressures of that led him to drink and become 89 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:15,839 Speaker 5: kind of a hellion. 90 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 1: He drank, he gambled, He thought anyone and everyone he 91 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: could find. He went, as he put it, hogwild. As 92 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 1: he later said, quote I kind of thought I could 93 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: whip the world, and more than once set out to 94 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: do it. He entered moonshine, drinking contests, He got in 95 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: a knife fight over a girl. He shot at things 96 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: for no good reason. When he got home from partying, 97 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: his mother, Mary would be sitting up waiting for him, 98 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: praying for his soul. She pleaded with him to get 99 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:56,799 Speaker 1: right with the Lord, and on January one, nineteen fifteen, 100 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,479 Speaker 1: he did. He thought about all the sacrifice, says she 101 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,600 Speaker 1: had made for him, and then, as he put it, quote, 102 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: I gave up smoking, drinking, cussing, and brawling completely and forever. 103 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: By all accounts, Alvin, salvation was a good thing. His timing, however, 104 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: was terrible because at that very moment, Europe was gripped 105 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: with what would become known as World War One and 106 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: Paul mall As In much of Rule America, people didn't 107 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: pay a lot of attention to conflict overseas, so when 108 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: Alvin was drafted in nineteen seventeen, he was horrified. He 109 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: later said, quote, I never had killed nobody, even in 110 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: my bad days. I didn't want to begin now. Yet 111 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: he was also deeply patriotic. He was in conflict with himself, and. 112 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 5: He often said it wasn't that he was afraid to 113 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 5: die for his country. He didn't want to kill for 114 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 5: his country. That was what he was grappling with. 115 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: Alvin wrote to the draft board asking for really from 116 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: service as a conscientious objector. His request was rejected once, 117 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: then twice, and then the third and final time. 118 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 5: His church that he belonged to was too small of 119 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 5: a sect to be recognized by the government, so they 120 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 5: denied as conscientious objector status. 121 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: So in November nineteen seventeen, Alvin Yorke reported for duty. 122 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: He was six feet tall, tightly muscled from his years blacksmithing, hunting, 123 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: and fighting, and pictures from this time, he has a 124 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: full mustache and looks uncannily like the actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Handsome, 125 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: if a little intense around the eyes. Alvin joined the 126 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: three twenty eighth Infantry, eighty second Division the US Army. 127 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: They were known as the All American Division for good reason. 128 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:52,439 Speaker 1: At least to hear Alvin tell it. 129 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 3: The All American Division was made up of voys from 130 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 3: all over the country. There were boys from the mountains 131 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 3: like me, and boys from the small towns and cities. 132 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 3: There were Southerners, New Yorkers, Middlewesterners, as well as boys 133 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 3: from the cow country in the Pacific coast. 134 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:13,679 Speaker 4: And there were a. 135 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 3: Man whose folks had been Greek, Italian, Jewish, German, Polish, Swedish, 136 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 3: and I. 137 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,719 Speaker 1: Three men stood out to Alvin from the company. There 138 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: was Bernard Early, an irishman and bartender who liked to 139 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: drink and fight in equal measure. There was Otis Merrithew 140 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: twenty one years old, and an orphan who had gone 141 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: under an assumed name to enlist. Alvin later described those 142 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: two as quote just about the hard boiledest soldiers I 143 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: ever knew. There was Murray Savage, another religious man who 144 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: became Alvin's closest friend. Friendship, though, was pretty hard for 145 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 1: Alvin to come by. The guys in company g knew 146 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: Alvin had tried and fell to be a conscientious objector, 147 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 1: and he was the subject of endless mockery. It made 148 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: them doubt whether he'd even be any use to his 149 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: country on the battlefield. How could they rely on him 150 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: to have their backs if he didn't even want to 151 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: shoot the enemy? As Merrithew put it years later, quote 152 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: would he run and leave us exposed? Would he fight? 153 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: I didn't know, and not knowing bothered me. It was 154 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,679 Speaker 1: clear that some of the men really didn't like this 155 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: Bible thumping, slow talking rube from Nowhere, Tennessee. The jeering 156 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: and skepticism surely got to Alvin, but his days of 157 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,839 Speaker 1: brawling and fighting were over, at least where his fellow 158 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: soldiers were concerned. The Germans would be another thing entirely. 159 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,079 Speaker 1: Bombs fell constantly as the men of the three twenty 160 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,680 Speaker 1: eighth marched towards the Argonne Forest in the northeast of France. 161 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: The weather was rainy and miserable, but it was the 162 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: noise that got to Alvin. Most the airplanes buzzing like 163 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,960 Speaker 1: hornets overhead the thunder of artillery. The roads were blocked 164 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: by the corpses of horses and men. It looked like 165 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:31,200 Speaker 1: a cyclone had ripped through the woods. Alvin thought this 166 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: must be what armageddon is like. By this point, in 167 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:39,200 Speaker 1: early October nineteen eighteen, Alvin had been in the army 168 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: for eleven months and in France for almost five. Two 169 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: important things happened in the meantime. First, Alvin had his 170 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: dark night of the soul. Before his company left for Europe. 171 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: He had been granted a ten day furlough to go 172 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: home and make peace with his role in the conflict 173 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: to come. He went into the woods and prayed. He 174 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: believed that quote, no matter what a man is forced 175 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: to do, so long as he is right in his 176 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: own soul, he remains a righteous man. Ultimately, Alvin convinced 177 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: himself that he wasn't going to France to take lives. 178 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:20,680 Speaker 1: They were there to make peace, and that was something 179 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: he could live with. He returned to the army. When 180 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: he did, the second important thing happened. Alvin's commanding officers 181 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: discovered that he was an incredibly good shot. He'd been 182 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:39,359 Speaker 1: hunting his whole life, and back home. Bullets were expensive, 183 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: so if you were going to use one, it had 184 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: to hit its mark. 185 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 5: For him, shooting with survival, you didn't eat if you 186 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 5: didn't kill game and put food on the table. 187 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 1: By June he was put in charge of an automatic 188 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: rifle squad, and by September he was promoted to acting corporal. 189 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: For a man who believed in that commandment, thal shall 190 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,439 Speaker 1: not kill, it was a tense situation. Even though he'd 191 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: made his peace, he had a job to do. 192 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 2: Now. 193 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: He and the rest of his division were on their 194 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: way to what they hoped would be the decisive battle 195 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: of the war. Part of the coordinated drive by the Allies. 196 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: Stretching for hundreds of miles, the Americans were attacking between 197 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:27,719 Speaker 1: the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. It was insanely 198 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:33,080 Speaker 1: difficult terrain, filled with high hills and deep ravines. The 199 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: Germans had been entrenched there for four years, stringing barbed 200 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: wire and building concrete machine gun nests. The area was 201 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: important because it held key supply lines, in particular the 202 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: Dcoville Railway. As one of the American commanders put it, quote, 203 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: who wins the railway wins the war, and that's how 204 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: in the wee hours of the morning of October eighth, 205 00:13:56,520 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 1: Alvin found himself marching through wet and mucky roads towards 206 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: the village of Chatel Shahari and a hill they referred 207 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: to as Number two twenty three, setting out to attack 208 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: heavily defended territory that none of these Americans had ever 209 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: seen before. Their commanders knew the casualty rate would be 210 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: painfully high. The climb up Hill two twenty three was 211 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: slippery and treacherous, and even in the pitch dark, the 212 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: Germans saw them and began firing. The underbrush of the 213 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: forest was filled with dead and dying Americans who had 214 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: tried and failed to advance over the previous days. Alvin 215 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:42,400 Speaker 1: passed them as he crested the hill. The moment dawn arrived, 216 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: the men of Company G would race down the far 217 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: slope into the fields below. The Germans had all of 218 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: the high ground. The Americans would be out in the open, 219 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: no trenches to protect them, enemy snipers and machine guns 220 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: ringing them on three sides. There were more gunners hiding 221 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: in the knee high grass, a killing floor. There was 222 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: meant to be a heavy barrage in advance of the 223 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: men to protect them, but at zero hour the barrage 224 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,880 Speaker 1: didn't come. The men would have to go forward without it. 225 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 1: They went over the top of Hill two twenty three. 226 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: What awaited them, Alvin would later say, was quote a 227 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: death trap. A rain of bullets sliced through the first 228 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 1: wave of Americans, and then the second lieutenant, who was 229 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: leading Alvin's company, was shot in the leg. He went down, 230 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: but just for a moment he stood again and led 231 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: the men forward. Then he was shot in the head dead. 232 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: As Alvin put it, quote, we were cut down like 233 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: the long grass before the mowing machine at home. The 234 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: men pressed themselves to the ground, hiding in shell holes, 235 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: trying to regroup and survive. Sergeant Harry Parsons assumed command. 236 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: He called over at Bernard Early, and above the deafening 237 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: noise of the guns, he laid out a plan. Frankly, 238 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: it sounded more like a suicide mission. Early would take 239 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: seventeen men and divide them into three groups, one led 240 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: by Alvin's friend Murray Savage, one by Otis Merrithew, and 241 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: one by Alvin. The idea was that each group would 242 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: creep up the hill to their left and come behind 243 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: the machine guns, catching them by surprise, that is, of course, 244 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: if the Americans weren't caught first. Early led the men forward. 245 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:41,800 Speaker 1: The trees and brush on the hill provided a screen 246 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: from the sniper's bullets. The seventeen men went silently, single file, 247 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: and soon enough they were behind the German line. The 248 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: sounds of screaming men in the field started to recede. 249 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: They moved cautiously, following a footpath in the woods. Then 250 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: they started to hear the drum of machine gun fire 251 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,120 Speaker 1: on the ridge above them. Suddenly one of the men 252 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: called out Germans. Two enemy soldiers darted from a hiding 253 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: place in the brush. The Americans shouted at them to surrender, 254 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: and instead they ran. The men took off after them. 255 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:24,159 Speaker 1: They chased them until after a moment the woods opened 256 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,919 Speaker 1: up into a clearing, a clearing filled with German soldiers. 257 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 1: It was between eighty and ninety Germans, and they were 258 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 1: eating breakfast. Alvin later remembered loaves of bread and steaks 259 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 1: and jellies laid across the table. They hadn't seen the Americans. 260 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: The German men were hanging out smoking, preparing but not 261 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:52,200 Speaker 1: yet ready for a day of battle. Fortunately for the Americans, 262 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,840 Speaker 1: they weren't close to their guns. Early told his men 263 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: to hide in the brush, and then he gave the 264 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,719 Speaker 1: order to fire. The small group of Americans caught the 265 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,480 Speaker 1: Germans totally by surprise, and now the enemy was falling 266 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: where they stood. Some of the Germans surrendered immediately they 267 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:16,680 Speaker 1: assumed they were surrounded by a far superior force. Others 268 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,720 Speaker 1: took off running. Early told his men to hold fire 269 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: and approached the officer to the group. Fortunately, the Germans 270 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: spoke enough English to follow Early's order. Line up, you're 271 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: being taken prisoner. Early and Marrithew organized the Germans into 272 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 1: lines and confiscated whatever weapons they had, But the Germans 273 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: saw something the Americans missed a signal from the machine 274 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: gunners on top of the ridge. Suddenly, all the Germans 275 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: hit the ground, diving for cover, and a spray of 276 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:56,120 Speaker 1: machine gun fire ripped through the Americans. Early was hitting 277 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,600 Speaker 1: the arm and sighed at least four times. He was 278 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: down for the count but conscious. Marrithew was shot multiple 279 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,119 Speaker 1: times in the left arm. In total, three of the 280 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: seventeen Americans were wounded and six were dead, including Alvin's 281 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: dear friend Murray Savage. He was shot nine times. His 282 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: uniform cut to shreds. As Alvin remembered it, quote, thousands 283 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: of bullets kicked up the dust all around us. The 284 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: air was just plumb full of death. Some of the 285 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: American survivors shot back at the machine guns on the ridge. 286 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: Others clustered around the prisoners, training their guns on them. 287 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: For one thing, it gave them a measure of safety, 288 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: and for the other, if those German prisoners decided to 289 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,920 Speaker 1: fight back, the Americans would be utterly outnumbered, and they 290 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: knew it. Alvin was slightly ahead of the group of 291 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,920 Speaker 1: Americans and prisoners, and when the machine gunners mowed down 292 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,600 Speaker 1: his friends to the ground, he wasn't focused on what 293 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: the rest of the men were doing. All he cared 294 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: about was clearing those machine gunners off of that ridge. 295 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: He never wanted to kill, but it was a stark choice. Now. 296 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: If he didn't shoot the enemy, all of his friends 297 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 1: would die. He moved into a better firing position. He 298 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: waited patiently for the enemy shooters on the ridge to 299 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,199 Speaker 1: poke their heads up. They had to raise up to 300 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: see their targets. Each time one did, Alvin shot him 301 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: with dead aid, or, as he later put it, touched 302 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 1: them off He used to tell the story to his. 303 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,800 Speaker 6: Son and said they were spitting bullets all around me, 304 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 6: and said, I'll touch them off. When they stick their 305 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 6: hand up, he'd touch them all one in time. 306 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,439 Speaker 1: Alvin remembered it this way quote. That's the way we 307 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: shoot wild turkeys at home, you see. We don't want 308 00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: the front ones to know we're getting the back ones, 309 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,160 Speaker 1: and then they keep on coming until we get them all. 310 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: Alvin remembers that as he shot, he was shouting for 311 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:14,119 Speaker 1: the Germans to surrender. He was, he said, unwilling to 312 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:18,919 Speaker 1: kill any more than he had to. Finally, the English 313 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: speaking German officer blew his whistle, a signal for the 314 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:27,120 Speaker 1: troops to stop fighting. Not a hair on Alvin's head 315 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,359 Speaker 1: was harmed. He saw it as a sign that God 316 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: was protecting him. What remained of the group from Company 317 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: G gathered the Germans up into two lines, with Alvin 318 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: at the lead. They marched back to camp. Alvin kept 319 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: his pistol trained on the officer. As they went back 320 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: to regimental headquarters, they ran into more Germans and they 321 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,879 Speaker 1: were added to the line of prisoners too. The wounded 322 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,159 Speaker 1: Americans were taken off to the hospital. Alvin kept the 323 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: Germans marching. As he entered a divisional prisoner camp, he 324 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: was reportedly stopped by the Brigadier General Julian Lindsay, who 325 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: said to him, quote, well, Yorke, I hear you captured 326 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: the whole damn German Army, to which Alvin responded only 327 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:19,479 Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty two All told, the action had 328 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: lasted half an hour at most. That half hour would 329 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: define the rest of Alvin's life. For his part in it, 330 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,679 Speaker 1: alvign Yorke would be awarded the Medal of Honor, but 331 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: he got something else as well, a myth that he 332 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: would have to live up to. Alvin York continued fighting 333 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,920 Speaker 1: with his regiment in the weeks that followed. He even 334 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,159 Speaker 1: got blown into the air by a mortarshell just a 335 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 1: few days later. By the end of the month, nearly 336 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 1: thirty percent of the three to twenty eighth infantry were casualties. 337 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: But the mews Argun offensive was as successful as the 338 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 1: Allies had hoped, and on November eleventh, the armistice was signed. 339 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: By then, Alvin had been promoted to sergeant, and on 340 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: November thirtieth, he received his Distinguished Service Cross, the army's 341 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: second highest award for valor. In those days and weeks 342 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: after the armistice, Alvin was asked to tell the story 343 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: of the heroic actions of October eighth to wrap audiences 344 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: of other soldiers. It was the chaplain of the eighty 345 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: second Division, who no doubt liked the religious angle, who 346 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,639 Speaker 1: first asked Alvin to talk about capturing all those Germans. 347 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: The men needed something to inspire them in the aftermath 348 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:44,639 Speaker 1: of so much cartnage. It's unclear when the story became 349 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: entirely focused on what Alvin did that October morning. Obviously 350 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: the other men from Company G were there too. Early 351 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: led the ambush and surrender of the bulk of the Germans. 352 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: After Early was shot, Merrithew insisted that he had taken 353 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: command and fired at the Germans despite his wounded arm. 354 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: The other survivors had kept the prisoners under guard and 355 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:13,640 Speaker 1: fired back at the machine guns two Alvin later stated quote, 356 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,480 Speaker 1: I hadn't time or a chance to look around for 357 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 1: the other boys. I didn't know what they were doing. 358 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 1: But as the story was told and retold, the actions 359 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,719 Speaker 1: of that day went from being an extraordinary group effort 360 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: to an almost miraculous tale of a single soldier The 361 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,160 Speaker 1: hero of this story, of course, was Alvin, a man 362 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:41,880 Speaker 1: devoted to peace and kindness, but whose shooting skills were undeniable. 363 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: And then, on one incredible morning, the story went, he 364 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: jumped into action. While his fellow soldiers were wounded, unable 365 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: to shoot, or hiding from the enemy gunfire, he mercilessly 366 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: picked off each of the German machine gunners one by one, 367 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,120 Speaker 1: silencing more than thirty guns all on his own. He 368 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:08,239 Speaker 1: was a one man army. It was less like a 369 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,639 Speaker 1: war story and more like a legend, a lot like 370 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 1: the one the USA liked to tell about its own 371 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: involvement in the war. Reluctant, pea sloven, ruthless, and ultimately triumphant, 372 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,119 Speaker 1: the commanding general of the eighty second Division, George Duncan, 373 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: started telling everyone that alvin only version of the story. 374 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: It was picked up by a reporter from the Saturday 375 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,960 Speaker 1: Evening Post, a magazine with more than two million readers 376 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: back home. Soon enough, Duncan and another general in the division, 377 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 1: perhaps interested in a little reflected glory for themselves, started 378 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: pushing for Alvin to receive the Medal of Honor. It 379 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: was investigated and approved quickly. On April eleventh, nineteen nineteen, 380 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: Alvin was awarded the medal, and the alvin centric version 381 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 1: of events was cemented in military history. Did Alvin believe 382 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: this version of the story. Maybe, after all, it reflected 383 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: his experience of a moment filled with panic and trauma. 384 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,919 Speaker 1: Did Alvin go along with the one man army story 385 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: because he wanted to give his commanding officers what they 386 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:30,439 Speaker 1: were clearly looking for? Maybe Alvin wasn't stupid, but he 387 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: wasn't sophisticated either, with the second grade education and little 388 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,680 Speaker 1: experience of the wider world. And this official story had 389 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,000 Speaker 1: to be fact checked and research in order for him 390 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: to receive the Medal of honor. Right other members of 391 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: his company had signed official statement supporting this narrative. Who 392 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:53,920 Speaker 1: was he to argue against that? Plus the accolades kept 393 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,199 Speaker 1: rolling in. He went to Paris for the founding of 394 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 1: the American Legion. It was safe to say, say a 395 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: far cry from Paul mal Tennessee. 396 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 5: He saw electricity, he saw indoor plumbing. He went to 397 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:13,439 Speaker 5: all of the major attractions in Paris, the museums, the cathedrals, 398 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,000 Speaker 5: and universities. He just tried to process what he had 399 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,200 Speaker 5: been through, but also to realize how he wanted life 400 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 5: to be different when he came home. 401 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 1: By the time Alvin was due to return to the 402 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,639 Speaker 1: US in May of that year, Americans had already heard 403 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,159 Speaker 1: every detail of his story from the Saturday Evening Post 404 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:36,119 Speaker 1: and countless newspaper articles that followed. Alvin sailed for New 405 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,199 Speaker 1: York on the SS Ohioan. It pulled into doc but 406 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: from the ship, Alvin can see a huge throng of 407 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:48,199 Speaker 1: people waiting on shore. It was daunting and he couldn't 408 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: figure out why they were there. Here's Alvin's grandson, Gerald Yorke. 409 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 7: When he came back, one of the guys asking or 410 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 7: You're not going to get off the ship, and he said, well, 411 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 7: I'm waiting for the to die down, and they said, well, 412 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:03,160 Speaker 7: the crowd's here for you. 413 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: We've seen this before with veterans returning from World War One. 414 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: Remember Henry Johnson from last season. News of his exploits 415 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,200 Speaker 1: also arrived in America before he did, so. Not only 416 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:18,919 Speaker 1: did he have to grapple with what actually happened in 417 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,639 Speaker 1: the war, he had to deal with this new found 418 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: and not very welcome fame, whether he wanted to or not. 419 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: He had to go to work keeping his legend alive 420 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: the second he set foot on home soil. As Alvin 421 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: made his way down the gang plank, he was greeted 422 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,720 Speaker 1: by dignitaries from his home state of Tennessee. There were 423 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: reporters and cameramen. There was a ticker tape parade through 424 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: the streets of New York City, lavish dinners at the 425 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: Waldorf Astoria Hotel, at visit to the Stock Exchange. Alvin 426 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: went from there to Washington, where he got a standing 427 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: ovation and congress. He was offered money to tell his 428 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: story my grandfather. 429 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 7: When he came back, was offered about two hundred and 430 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:10,280 Speaker 7: fifty thousand dollars in nineteen nineteen, money to endorse various things, 431 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 7: and he said, I did what I had to do 432 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,440 Speaker 7: to save my comrade, and so no, the uniform's not 433 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 7: for sake. 434 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,120 Speaker 1: Making money off of killing people felt wrong to Alvin, 435 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: and he didn't want a life on the road. He 436 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 1: wanted to go home, but the newsreels followed him there too. 437 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 4: The second elder in this church, Sergeant York, was a 438 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:38,840 Speaker 4: conscientious objector during the early stages of World War One, 439 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 4: but when he got into action, he killed twenty five 440 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 4: German single handed and captured one hundred and thirty two 441 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 4: including a major in three lieutenants, and is credited with 442 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 4: putting thirty five enemy machine guns out of action. 443 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: There's that legend of the one man Army again. 444 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 4: Nothing backwoods about this backwoods boy, America's number one World 445 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 4: War One hero mess and Sargeant. 446 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:10,160 Speaker 1: York Alvin was offered a four hundred acre farm, with 447 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 1: the Nashville Rotary Club covering the down payment. It was 448 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: meant to be a gift from the grateful state of Tennessee, 449 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: though Alvin would end up on the hook for most 450 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: of it. He married his sweetheart Gracie in front of 451 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: thousands of well wishers, presided over by the Governor of Tennessee. 452 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,719 Speaker 1: But once the crowd of gawkers and fans disappeared, Alvin 453 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: saw his beloved hometown through changed eyes. It was being 454 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,920 Speaker 1: left behind by the world. So we used his influence 455 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: to get the State Highway Department to build an actual 456 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 1: road through the hills. They did. Today it's still called 457 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: the Alvin c. York Highway. And most of all, he 458 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 1: pushed to educate the local children. 459 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 5: He went around giving speeches to say, look these mountain 460 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 5: children deserve a chance, and they are economically disadvantaged, geographically isolated, 461 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 5: and they need opportunities like. 462 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: All Americans have. He built the York Institute. By nineteen 463 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: twenty eight, it was serving more than seven hundred students, and. 464 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 5: It was actually a full time school before education was 465 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 5: mandatory in the state, and it still run to this day. 466 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: Alvin's fame on the battlefield had allowed him to do good, 467 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,360 Speaker 1: It also caused resentment among some of the men who 468 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: had been there that famous October morning. Around the ten 469 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: year anniversary, a few of the other members of Company 470 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: G most notably Bernard Early and Otis Merrithew, began speaking 471 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 1: to the press telling a fuller version of the story, 472 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:56,400 Speaker 1: asking why Alvin hogged the glory for himself. Alvin's answer 473 00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 1: was what it had always been. He loved and received 474 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: affected the men of his company, both Early and Merrithew 475 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:08,160 Speaker 1: were undeniably brave, and he still had no idea what 476 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 1: anyone other than him had done that day. As he wrote, quote, 477 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: there were others in that fight besides me. I'm telling 478 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: you that they're entitled to a whole heap of credit. 479 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 1: It isn't for me, of course, to decide how much 480 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 1: credit they should get, but just the same those boys 481 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: were heroes. In fact, five of the surviving members of 482 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 1: Company G had already received Silver Stars for their bravery 483 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: shortly after the war ended, but Bernard Early, who led 484 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: the charge until he was shot, was not one of them. Finally, 485 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty nine, after some undeniable foot dragging from 486 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:54,560 Speaker 1: the military, Early received a Distinguished Service Cross, more than 487 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:59,080 Speaker 1: a decade after the action and the Argon Forest. By 488 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: that time, the weight of the one man Army legend 489 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: had caught up to Alvin. He was overextended and chronically 490 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 1: plagued by debt. He owed thousands of dollars on the 491 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: farm he'd been gifted. He wasn't good with finances, and anyway, 492 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 1: his church preached against material goods. He mortgaged the farm 493 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: to help pay for a fleet of school buses. He 494 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: faced foreclosure than bankruptcy. He kept slipping further underwater financially. 495 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:35,680 Speaker 1: His fame had allowed him to give back, but giving 496 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 1: back was taking almost everything he had. In nineteen forty, 497 00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: Alvin was approached with an offer to cash in on 498 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 1: his Wanings celebrity by selling the movie rights to his story. 499 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: The timing was perfect Not only was he broke, but 500 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 1: he was desperate to achieve one of his dreams, building 501 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: a Bible school in his community. He also, at that 502 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 1: point had seven kids, most of whom had sort of 503 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:26,480 Speaker 1: hilariously patriotic names. Betsy Ross York, Woodrow Wilson, York. You 504 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:30,120 Speaker 1: get the idea. Here's his son Andrew Jackson, York. 505 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 6: He decided to want to build a Bible school, which 506 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:34,840 Speaker 6: is about a high a mile from here, build it 507 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 6: on his ow home place where he's born, and the 508 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,440 Speaker 6: movie came. He finally graded to let him do it 509 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:42,880 Speaker 6: if they would agree to his terms. 510 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,560 Speaker 1: The movie would be called Sergeant York and it was 511 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: produced by Warner Brothers, the film studio run by Polish 512 00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: born brothers Jack and Harry Warner. The Warners were Jewish 513 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: and horrified by the rise of the Nazis in Germany. 514 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: I saw the movie as a way to remind Americans 515 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: of the importance of fighting for freedom everywhere. And that's 516 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,720 Speaker 1: when some of the controversy around Alvin's legend was stirred 517 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:15,400 Speaker 1: up once again. Otis Merrithew wrote to the studio, promising 518 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: bad publicity if his heroism wasn't portrayed as equal to Alvin's, 519 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 1: but the film went on as planned. After all, the 520 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: movie wasn't really Alvin's story, it was Hollywood's, with invented 521 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:33,840 Speaker 1: scenes and composite characters, and Alvin played by Gary Cooper 522 00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:36,280 Speaker 1: in a performance that would win him an Oscar. 523 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,360 Speaker 8: You see, I believe in the Bible, and I'm believing 524 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:46,279 Speaker 8: that this year life we're living, there's something the Lord 525 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 8: does give us, and we got to be a living 526 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 8: that the best we can. And I'm figuring that killing 527 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 8: other folks ain't no part of what he was intending 528 00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:58,680 Speaker 8: for us to be a doing here. 529 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: The film was a blockbuster head when it was released 530 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 1: in the fall of nineteen forty one. It worked just 531 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:11,200 Speaker 1: as planned, a heartwarming piece of propaganda for a country 532 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:15,000 Speaker 1: that would soon find itself at war. It even helped 533 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: fuel enlistments. But once again, it all came at a 534 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,360 Speaker 1: big cost to Alvin. He was in the news again. 535 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,640 Speaker 1: In one radio interview, he said, quote, although I was 536 00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: credited with wiping out the whole battalion of thirty five 537 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: machine guns, I was only one of seventeen who did 538 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: the job. I want the whole world to know that 539 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 1: without their cool courage, none of US would be alive today. 540 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:47,520 Speaker 1: But let's be honest. People don't love a complicated story. 541 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,680 Speaker 1: They prefer a legend. He couldn't stop it any more 542 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:54,360 Speaker 1: than he could have stood in that clearing in the 543 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 1: forest and refused to return fire. Elvin believed that the 544 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: US was right to fight against fascism. In fact, he 545 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:04,280 Speaker 1: tried to enlist. 546 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,760 Speaker 5: I was too fat and too old, too out of shape. 547 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:09,800 Speaker 1: But they made him an honorary. 548 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,919 Speaker 5: Colonel and let him go across the country selling war 549 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,920 Speaker 5: bonds and actually giving speeches to increase morale for the troops. 550 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:17,640 Speaker 5: Going back across. 551 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,320 Speaker 1: He traveled the country, supporting the war effort and raising 552 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: money for the Red Cross. He didn't ask for or 553 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:29,120 Speaker 1: receive any payment, and for the second time in his life, 554 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,680 Speaker 1: he tried to reconcile his love of the Bible with 555 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 1: his patriotism. 556 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,000 Speaker 3: It's not an easy thing for a man to make 557 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:37,399 Speaker 3: up his mind to go to war. 558 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:43,480 Speaker 1: This is really him, not Gary Cooper playing him the man, 559 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:44,959 Speaker 1: not the myth. 560 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:49,960 Speaker 3: I well remember the doubt and confusion I felt about 561 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:54,400 Speaker 3: going to the last one. War means more than uniforms, 562 00:37:55,160 --> 00:38:01,520 Speaker 3: marching and band music. It means facing death and what's 563 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 3: almost worse, it means carrying death and suffering to other us. 564 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:10,719 Speaker 3: Thou shalt not kill is written in the Bible. Here 565 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:15,040 Speaker 3: in America, we've always tried to follow that commandment. Our 566 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,000 Speaker 3: enemies have denied us the right to follow it. 567 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:24,200 Speaker 1: His financial situation was in shambles, but his north star 568 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 1: remained steady, focused on serving the people of his little 569 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:30,080 Speaker 1: mountain community. 570 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 7: He was asked later in life, what do you want 571 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 7: to be remembered for your actions? In France being awarded 572 00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:41,439 Speaker 7: the Medal of Honor, meeting the President, and he said, 573 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,320 Speaker 7: I want my legacy to be that I brought education 574 00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:48,319 Speaker 7: to rural Tennessee. 575 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:54,040 Speaker 1: How do you live with an idealized version of yourself 576 00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: that you didn't have a hand in creating. Perhaps Alvin 577 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:02,040 Speaker 1: understood has myth for what it was, something that didn't 578 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:08,400 Speaker 1: belong to him, Really, something bigger, more abstract, created for 579 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:12,319 Speaker 1: public consumption. There were good things about it. Just go 580 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:16,080 Speaker 1: to Paul Mall, Tennessee for proof of that. It inspired 581 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:20,279 Speaker 1: countless Americans to go back to Europe, this time to 582 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:24,040 Speaker 1: fight the Nazis. It gave comfort to grieving families in 583 00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: the wake of World War One, A shining example of 584 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,480 Speaker 1: the fact that our men did great things on the battlefield. 585 00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:35,200 Speaker 1: It was a life's work to sustain a myth, and 586 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:39,720 Speaker 1: it had its cost. But just like with his military service, 587 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,880 Speaker 1: Alvin was clear eyed about the trade offs and willing 588 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:49,160 Speaker 1: to make them. Alvin passed away in nineteen sixty four 589 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,360 Speaker 1: at the age of seventy six after a long illness. 590 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:59,080 Speaker 1: Otis Merrithew finally received a Silver Star in nineteen sixty five, 591 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:05,200 Speaker 1: a year after Alvin's death. At his ceremony, he admitted 592 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:10,239 Speaker 1: that Alvin was quote a hero. What precisely happened on 593 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,840 Speaker 1: that battlefield in nineteen eighteen is something we'll never know 594 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:19,120 Speaker 1: for sure. One thing is certain. Alvin Yorke fought valiantly 595 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,680 Speaker 1: for his country. He fought for the people of his community. 596 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:25,879 Speaker 1: He fought in the way his faith had taught him 597 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,320 Speaker 1: to for peace. 598 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:34,960 Speaker 3: Someday peace will return to the world. But before peace 599 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:39,040 Speaker 3: is won, all of us must work, confined to our 600 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:40,319 Speaker 3: last downce of. 601 00:40:40,440 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 2: Strength, Medal of Honor. 602 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: Stories of Courage is written by Meredith Rollins and produced 603 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: by Meredith Rollins, Jess Shane, and Suzanne Gabber. Our editor 604 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,480 Speaker 1: is Ben Nadav Hoffrey. Sound design and additional music by 605 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:21,440 Speaker 1: Jake Gorsky. Our executive producer is Constanza Gallardo. Fact checking 606 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: by Arthur Gomperts. Original music by Eric Phillips. Special thanks 607 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,520 Speaker 1: to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Tennessee State Parks. 608 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:34,000 Speaker 1: Thomas Wilmer, host of the radio show Journeys of Discovery 609 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:38,840 Speaker 1: with Tom Wilmer and CASEYBX, the public radio station servicing 610 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,400 Speaker 1: sunduy Sobispo, California. If you want to learn more about 611 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:45,160 Speaker 1: this story, take a look at our show notes, where 612 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:47,120 Speaker 1: we have some of the resources we use to put 613 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:50,440 Speaker 1: together this episode. We also want to hear from you, 614 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,600 Speaker 1: so send us your personal story of courage or highlight 615 00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:59,279 Speaker 1: someone else's bravery. Email us at Medal of Honor at 616 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:04,879 Speaker 1: Pushkin dot f M. I'm your host, j R. Martinez