| Alvin York. Part 1. Part 2: www.youtube.com Sergeant York. Played by Gary Cooper. About a hero from the Great War. See Part 2: www.youtube.com Alvin Cullum York was born in rural Pall Mall, Tennessee. Raised in the mountains, he learned to shoot guns when he was just a boy, becoming an expert with both a pistol and rifle before his teens. Under the influence of his high school girlfriend--and his future wife--Gracie Williams, he also became a devout born-again Christian and gave up the drinking, brawling, smoking, gambling and bare-knuckle fighting that marked his early days. When the US declared war on Germany in April 1917, York was drafted into the army, where he sought exemption as a conscientious objector, but was turned down. Inducted into the 328th Infantry Regiment on November 24, 1917, he distinguished himself in basic training until he was ordered to shoot at human forms on the target range. After days of soul-searching, York reconciled himself to military service and completed his training, and his unit sailed to France the following spring. His regiment was assigned to the Meuse-Argonne salient during the final great Allied offensive from September to the war's end on November 11, 1918. On October 8, 1918, York, then a corporal, was part of a company assigned to attack a heavily defended hill near Chatel-Chehery. Pinned down by intense machine-gun fire, York joined a squad of 17 men that attempted to outflank the German position from the rear of the hill ... |
