September 3, 2026 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Sergeant Alvin York, the reluctant World War I infantryman who became one of America’s most decorated soldiers, has stood as a symbol of courage and sacrifice for over a century. Born in the mountains of Tennessee, Sgt. York’s early life was shaped by deep religious convictions that initially made him a conscientious objector. But on the battlefield, Alvin C. York single-handedly captured 132 German soldiers, killed 28 others, and earned the Medal of Honor along with nearly 50 additional decorations. His story inspired the classic Sergeant York movie and countless books.
Is Sergeant York a true story? What did Alvin York do after the war? Here to share the real history of Alvin York is JD Phillips, host of the popular YouTube channel The Appalachian Storyteller.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Sergeant Alvin York, the reluctant World War I infantryman who
became an American legend, has stood as a symbol of
American courage and sacrifice for well over a century. The
(00:30):
Tennessee Mountaineer, whose religious convictions at first kept him from fighting,
became the recipient of the Medal of Honor for single-handedly
capturing or killing an entire German machine gun battalion. Here
to tell the story is J.D. Phillips, who runs the
popular YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
J.D.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Will be telling the story of Alvin York as Alvin himself,
using York's own words from his autobiography, Sergeant York. Let's
take a listen.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Truth be told, I couldn't tell you how long my
ancestors have called these mountains home. It's further back than
I could ever know. You see, they were the first
white people to ever set foot on this land, dating
back to my great-great-grandfather. When he first arrived, he lived
in a cave near the Wolf River in an area
(01:22):
now known as Pall Mall Valley in East Tennessee after
somehow getting past the Cherokees. And since he was the
first white man here, he had the first choice of
the land. And that's how it came to be that
my family owns all the valley and most of the
mountains surrounding it. Like most mountain men back in those days,
(01:42):
my grandpa was a fighter. He left this valley to
go and fight in the Great Mexican War, where he
served with skill and honor. However, war can kill a man,
even while his heart still beats, leaving a soulless man,
the equivalent of a dead man walking. And when my
grandpap returned from Mexico, oh, he was a shadow of himself,
(02:04):
and he soon died. Now, My grandpap on my mama's
side was also a fighter, a northerner who fought with
the cavalry. After the war, he had made enemies with
rival clans. Now back in those days, there was no
law to speak of, and every man put on a
pistol every morning, just as sure as he put on
his pants and his boots. When one of those leaders
(02:26):
of the rival clan died, folks pointed fingers at grandpap,
and even though there was no evidence, they killed grandpap.
They hooked a mule to his body. Then they drug
him through the dirt streets of Jamestown and they shot
his body to pieces as a warning to anyone who
might ever cross them. So you see, my ancestors were
(02:47):
all pioneers and soldiers, God-fearing people like most mountain folk.
I grew up in a one-room log cabin, the same
one my father and his father before him lived in.
I sat in the same spot where our ancestors first
cleared the land, hewn the logs with a broad axe.
(03:10):
The walls were chinked with horse hair, mud, and sticks,
and the inside of the cabin walls was covered in
newspapers and pages of magazines to help keep the bitter
winter cold out. My pa was a blacksmith, and his
shop was located in the very same cave where my
great-great-grandpa had spent his first night when he first came
(03:32):
into this valley. Like many of my ancestors that came
before me, this cave is where I cut my teeth
as a blacksmith apprentice. While work was a necessity of
daily life, my father's first love was hunting with his
trusty muzzleloader. He spent most of his days hunting and
blacksmithing at night. And Paul, he was the best shot
(03:54):
I'd ever seen in my life, and he taught me
how to shoot. He loved competing with other shooters, and
Paul would win every match. A popular game back then
was to tie a turkey behind a log, and the
marksmen would position themselves about 100 yards away, and they
would take turns shooting. Each time the turkey would poke
his head up from behind the log, the winner would
(04:16):
get 10 cents and get to keep the turkey. Paul's
advice to me would always be, just be accurate the
first time, and when you shoot a muzzleloader, well, we
all learn how to make each shot count. I love
my Paul. I grew up with him, and I worked
in the blacksmith shop with him. Like all mountain women,
(04:38):
my mom was a hard worker, and she loved the Lord,
her man, and her children. Even though we didn't have much,
she did her best to raise me right. And Lord knows,
she had her hands full with 11 boys and 3 girls.
Even though I was the third oldest of the boys,
I was the biggest and the strongest of all my brothers.
(05:00):
All of us kids had a hard time going to school,
mainly because back in those days, there were hardly any
schools in these remote mountains. And even if there was
a school, it would be three miles away, through the
rugged terrain, on a road that was barely more than
an animal trail. Most folks needed their kids at home,
(05:20):
helping with tending to the animals and the crops. So school, oh,
it was mostly an afterthought. It only ran for about
three months a year. But when it was in session
there would be a hundred or so barefooted mountain children
piled into a small one-room schoolhouse with primitive bench seating
with no backs. By the time I was in the
(05:42):
third grade, my pa, he suddenly died. Life could never
be the same, so I quit school, and I never
went back. All totaled, I had just nine months of schooling,
and with me being the biggest boy in the house,
I was suddenly tasked with somehow bringing money into the
household to help us survive. When I wasn't working on
(06:12):
our farm or in the blacksmith shop, my ma would
hire me out to work on neighboring farms for 40
cents a day. And by the time I was in
my teens and with my pa's stern hand no longer
around to guide me, It wasn't long before I started
getting into trouble and developing a reputation for being a
bit of a hill raiser. Ma did her best to
(06:34):
keep me in line, but every day after work, I'd
spend all night drinking and gambling. Now, just because I'd
quit school in third grade didn't mean I couldn't read. Oh, heck,
I loved to read about the outlaws, like Frank and
Jesse James. I admired the way those boys could shoot,
and I still loved to shoot, just like my pa
(06:55):
had taught me. I'd put a target up on a tree,
and I'd ride my horse around and around that tree,
shooting it up. Before long, I could shoot as well
as my paw ever did. And although I was working
as much as possible, my downfall proved to be the
powerful combination of moonshine and cards.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And you've been listening to J.D. Phillips, the Appalachian storyteller,
using the words of Sergeant York himself. When we come back,
more of this remarkable story here on Our American Stories.
Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to
subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
(07:39):
or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed
or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again,
please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast app on
Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts.
It helps us keep these great American stories coming. And
(08:09):
we continue with our American stories and with J.D. Phillips,
the Appalachian storyteller, telling the story of Alvin York, in
Alvin York's own words from his autobiography. Let's pick up
where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Week after week, I would gamble all my money away,
out all night drunk, and naturally, that led to fist fighting.
Now I can't tell you how many grown men I
fought when I was a teen, but I can tell
you this, I never got whipped unless it was by
my ma. Night after night, month after month, This went
(08:48):
on for nearly six years until I was in my
early 20s. Yet, each time I'd stare at the bottom
of another empty bottle, I realized that no matter how
much I drank, it would never be able to fill
the void inside my soul. Folks around me were living
their lives, but I was stuck in a drunken stover. Constantly,
(09:09):
I knew I needed to change. But like so many
great men before me, I was a slave to the
poison contained in each sip of moonshine. The only person
in my life who hadn't given up on me was
my mother. There she was, constantly telling me, Son, you
best go easy down that road and get right with
(09:29):
the Lord. One night, my best friend was killed in
a bar fight, and I'd staggered home, drunk and numb.
I got in after midnight, and I found my ma
sitting up, waiting for me. Ma, why aren't you in bed?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I asked.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I can't. I can't never sleep for worrying about the
day that somebody's going to come walking through that door
and telling me that you're dead, she said. And in
that moment, my mother's up and she looked deep into
my eyes and she said, Son, when are you going
to become a real man like your father and your grandfathers?
(10:11):
And those words hit me hard. And I promised her
that night that I would never drink again. I would
never smoke. Chew, cuss, or fight or gamble again. And
so it was. From that moment on, I never drank
any whiskey, touched any cards, or fought against any man.
(10:34):
My ma saved my life that night. Just like Paul
in the Bible, the things I once loved, I now hate.
One night, there was a revival and an evangelist from
Indiana was preaching. at the small church down the road.
His words spoke to me, and for the first time,
I really listened. I mean, I had grown up Methodist,
(10:58):
but there was something different about this preacher. And after
the meeting, I spent many days talking with him, and
I respected the words that this man spoke. He spoke
in a way I'd never heard before, and I believed
what he said, and he drew me closer to God.
He always spoke with the strict words from the scriptures.
It was far different than my Methodist upbringing. He spoke
(11:18):
of punishment for the wicked and a place of happiness
for those who live for the Lord. And before long,
I got saved in the Wolf Creek Church of Christ.
And eventually, I became an elder in the church. Heck,
I had always had a good singing voice. And soon,
I was leading the singing choir. Somehow, I had turned
my entire life around from the road of destruction that
(11:41):
I was bound for. Now, even though we didn't have
many newspapers, or major roads out in our little area,
the railroads were quickly being built, and they became the
primary source of how folks first got word of news
going on in the outside world. I was working on
(12:02):
the railroad in Harriman, Tennessee, when I heard about this
great war that was going on. A few weeks later,
I got a postcard in the mail telling me to
go register, just in case the government wanted me to
go fight in the war. There I was, a grown man,
30 years old. I was driving steel and blasting dynamite
in mountains, hoping to build the railroad for $ 1. 60 a day.
(12:28):
While I loved my country, I was a devout Christian,
and I'd swore off fighting many years ago, and the
very thought of killing a man went against every fiber
of my being. I simply wrote on that postcard that
I wouldn't go and fight because it was against my religion.
and I mailed it back to them. Yet, a few
(12:48):
months later, I got an official letter notifying me that
the Church of Christ wasn't recognized by the government as
an official religion. Therefore, my request not to fight was denied,
and I was ordered to report to Jamestown, Tennessee to
be shipped off to Army Basic Training in Atlanta, Georgia immediately.
(13:11):
For the next two nights, I wrestled deep within my
soul on what I should do, I couldn't find assurance
in the thought of fighting and killing foreign men who
I harbored no ill will or hate for. Suddenly, on
the third day, I found myself standing on my grandpa's
favorite spot on our farm. It was here that after
(13:31):
two and a half days, the voice of God spoke
to my heart and he assured me that the calling
was right and that it was all right for me
to go. And God assured me that I would return
to my family without a single scratch upon my head.
And while it was very hard for my mother and
my brothers and my sisters to accept, just like that,
(13:52):
I left the mountains of East Tennessee for the first
time in my life, bound for the unknown of the
other side of the world. Within a few days, I
arrived at Camp Gordon. After several days of traveling on
a train, I was exhausted. The first morning, they made
(14:12):
all the new recruits pick up cigarette butts in the yards.
I looked around and I saw nothing but sandy flatness.
I never realized how much I loved those mountains that
I grew up in until that moment. Before long, they
assigned me to Company G, 328th Infantry, the 82nd Division. Now,
(14:32):
this division was made up of men from every state
in America. There were rural folk and city folk, all
just blended together. Yet, I was the only mountain man
in the entire company. The only thing we all had
in common was we were all poor, or, as the
drill sergeants kept telling us, the best that America had
to offer to defend freedom. They put me in the
(14:53):
bunks near a bunch of Italian and Greek men. None
of us could understand what the other fellow was even saying.
Every night was a sleepless night. I had never been
so homesick in my entire life. Before long, they put
a gun in my hand, and they seemed proud of
the quality of the weapon. All those city boys beamed
with pride. Most of them, they had never held a
(15:16):
gun before. Me, my first thought was how greasy it was.
My pa had taught me how to keep a rifle
as clean as a newborn baby. Because back home, our
lives depended on these guns. First thing I did was
to take that thing and break it into a million
parts and clean it squeaky clean. The looks on the
drill sergeant's faces seemed like they had never seen someone
(15:38):
clean a gun like that before. And one of them
asked me how I knew how to do it. And
I replied, Sir, We make our own rifles back home, sir.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
We make our own rifles back home, sir, Alvin York
said to his commanding officer at the time. What a
scene that must have been, right? All these city slickers
holding a gun for the first time, and here's York
looking at it with semi-disgust, needing, feeling the urge to
take it apart and clean it up, and everybody just
(16:08):
watching in amazement. What a beautiful, simple, sort of hillbilly answer.
to a straight question. You're listening to J.D. Phillips, who
runs the popular YouTube channel The Appalachian Storyteller, and he's
using Sergeant York's own words from his autobiography, his own
(16:28):
life story and war diary. And my goodness, what a story.
Growing up in a one-room log cabin, the father of blacksmith,
and a great shot. When you shoot a muzzleloader, his
dad told him, you make each shot count. And boy,
they did. His dad dies when he's in the third grade.
He quits school and he never goes back. Only nine
(16:50):
months of education. But he's the oldest boy in the house.
He has to hit the streets. He has to hustle.
And he's got this void. He's lost his dad. And
he just starts to drink. He starts to gamble. And
he just starts getting into trouble. Then one night, his
best friend gets killed. He goes home and he sees
his mom dead. She says to him, son, when are
(17:13):
you going to become a real man like your father
and grandfather? And those words cut through him. The next
thing you know, he was getting his life in order.
An evangelist, a traveling evangelist came through town and he
rediscovered his faith and a spirit in him and just
gave up the bad things in his life and started anew.
(17:34):
Then came the call for the military. He tried to
get out of it, tried to claim a religious exemption.
It didn't happen. And then he heard this sense and
voice from God. The next thing you know, he finds
himself overseas, ready for war. The story of Alvin York
continues here on Our American Stories.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Our American Stories.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And we continue with our American stories and with the
story of Sergeant Alvin York as told by J.D.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Phillips.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Let's pick up where J.D. last left off.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Most of the new recruits were city boys. And I'll
tell you, they couldn't hit nothing with those guns. Not
only would they miss the entire target, but they'd miss
the entire hill that the target was mounted on. Me,
I'd been shooting squirrels since I was five and killing
turkeys at 150 yards. by the time I was nine.
Seems like all I remember doing in basic training was shooting,
(18:42):
but mostly hiking, while carrying as much weight as a
man could possibly haul by himself. Days of endless marching
and hikes and toting that gun, I never saw so
many folks fall out from exhaustion. Yet, before long, I
got a letter telling me that I'd been assigned to
the front lines on the other side of the world,
(19:04):
in France. Before long, I was on a train to
New York City and a few days later, Boston, Massachusetts.
An officer came through and he asked every man in
the company if they objected to going across the ocean
and fighting. When he asked me, I told him I
didn't object because I love my country. However, to be honest,
(19:25):
I wasn't sure who was even in the right or
the wrong in this war. He simply replied to me
that blessed are the peacemakers and that we were the peacemakers.
After hearing that, We all thought that as soon as
we got over there, we would be keeping the peace.
And I'll tell you right now, nothing could have been
further from the truth. At four o'clock the next morning,
(19:49):
we all loaded onto an old ship and we started
for France. This was the first time I'd ever seen
the ocean.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Water.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Everywhere I looked, water. And when I looked back towards America,
all I saw was water. While the Greeks and Italians
and the Jews withstood the voyage just fine, The rocking
back and forth of the ship kept me sick the
entire time. We went to sleep wearing our full gear
and life preservers, 24-7, just in case we were attacked.
(20:21):
I had never wanted to go back to those mountains
more than I did in that moment. Sixteen days later,
as the sun was setting on the water behind us
to the west, we arrived in Liverpool, England. Within three days,
we were on the move. traveling towards France. By now,
(20:41):
I was making friends with all the other fellas in
the company. My three friends were named Corporal Murray Savage
and Sergeant Harry Parsons. They were both from Brooklyn, New York,
and then there was Lieutenant Stewart from Georgia. Anyway, we
arrived in France, and the first thing they gave us
was gas masks. For the first month, it seemed that
all we would do was take a train to some
(21:02):
small town or village and hike around until we would
suddenly get orders board another train to some small town
or village and repeat the process. Finally, we got orders
to relieve the 26th Division boys in the Montsec sector
in Remboucourt. We moved during the middle of the night
and we would stay there for the next 10 days. Apparently,
(21:25):
this is where the Army would send all the new
troops for one final training session before sending them into
no man's land. Tennessee started to seem like something I'd
only dreamed in my mind. and I started to question
if it ever really existed or if I would ever
see it again. Occasionally, fire would come in from artillery shells.
(21:48):
Putting on gas masks became second nature because of the
constant gas shells, and then there was the constant threat
of snipers. Some of us knew meat. We would constantly
be ducking our heads as the sounds of bullets whizzed by.
But after a few boys were shot, We soon realized
that it was no use to duck, since no one
ever hears the bullet that hits them. At first, there
(22:12):
was the endless waiting in the trenches, and that seemed
to be the hard part for the Greeks and the Italians.
They wanted to go on the offensive. Every time one
of them would do something foolish, like sneaking out of
the trench, trying to get a better look at things,
someone would die. And that was the trouble with my platoon.
Everyone was so antsy, and they couldn't sit still. They
wanted to attack and get the war over with.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Me?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I spent most of my time reading a small Bible
that I kept in my pocket. I must have read
that thing at least five times. We spent the next
two months constantly moving positions in the trenches. We never
knew what was the grand scheme of things. It was
hurry up and wait and always do what you're told. Suddenly,
(22:55):
without warning, we were part of a big American offensive.
We captured a small town named Norrie and we kept
clawing our way forward. Our whole battalion found ourselves right
in the heart of the St. Michael Drive and suddenly
we were on the front lines when the enemy launched
into an all-out offensive. We began losing men immediately to
(23:26):
machine gun fire. Our biggest problem was we were too
anxious to get to the enemy and we kept pushing
forward when we should have shown more patience. I'll say
this though, those Greeks and Italians, they moved full steam ahead,
no matter what the cost was. After we captured this town,
we went house to house, looking for any prisoners, or
(23:47):
anything of value that we might use. Most soldiers were
looking for booze, and they quickly drank any they found.
And while we were dug in here, there was a
huge grape vineyard in the distance, and the longer we
stayed dug in those trenches, the hungrier we all got.
and the better those grapes looked. Finally, we couldn't stand it,
so we all went into the vineyard, unaware that there
(24:09):
was a German observation balloon high above. They unleashed an
assault on us, and they killed several more of our men,
and once we made it back to the trenches, the
captain ordered us all to stay out of those grapes.
But I have to tell you, I was starving, and man,
I couldn't get those grapes out of my mind. So
that night, I snuck back into the vineyard as quiet
(24:33):
as a mouse, when suddenly, a mortar shell exploded nearby me.
I started running for my life when I ran into
another man and we both fell to the ground. I
quickly realized that it was the captain himself. Turns out,
he couldn't get those grapes off his mind either. It
(24:53):
seems like all of us tried hard to find some
humor to maintain our sanity, constantly wearing gas masks for
hours a day, constant bombing sharpshooters, and machine gun nests
killed men every day. And when a man was dead, dying,
or badly injured, no one came for him. They lay
there beside you for days at a time. Soon we
(25:18):
had orders to move to prepare for the Battle of Argon.
We hiked for miles through the woods that were shot
up something terrible. Even the ground was all tore up
from the shelling. By daybreak, We had made it to
the main road, and airplanes were buzzing our heads while
we crawled over dead men and horses. All the while,
(25:39):
shells were exploding all around us. Somehow, we made it
to the side of the road and some small holes
that served as makeshift bunkers. We weren't yet close enough
for the machine gun nest to reach us, but the
constant shelling from the airplanes was non-stop. And I saw
a lot of men just blown to pieces. When the
(26:02):
orders finally came in, it was our job to take
Hill 240 and Hill 223 by the next day. And
that day started wet with a slow drizzle, but that
didn't stop the shells from falling.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And you've been listening to J.D. Phillips, who runs the
popular YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller. And he's telling the
story of Alvin York as Alvin himself. using York's own
words from his autobiography, Sergeant York, His Own Life Story
and War Diary. And my goodness, what a story you're hearing,
(26:40):
thinking little in the beginning of what was to come because, well,
he hadn't seen combat yet. Being moved from place to
place within the United States, seeing the ocean for the
first time, meeting people from all kinds of different ethnic backgrounds,
thinking he was going to go over there and, quote,
keep the peace. And as he said, nothing could have
(27:01):
been further from the truth when he finally entered real combat.
And my goodness, what kind of combat those World War
I vets faced. When we come back, more of the
remarkable story of Sergeant Alvin York, here on Our American Stories.
(27:37):
And we continue with our American stories in the story
of Sergeant Alvin York. Let's pick up with J.D. Phillips,
where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Our machine gun battalion was moving alongside us on the
opposite side of the road, and we saw bomb after
bomb fall on them. The whole area looked like a
tornado had tore through it. All day and all night long,
the machine gun nest flashed and fired non-stop. Somehow, in
(28:11):
that moment, my mind traveled back home to the other
side of the world. I was standing on the porch
of our log cabin watching an old-time thunderstorm roll across
the mountains. All I had in this moment was my
faith in God. Somehow, though, we mobilized with orders to
(28:34):
take Hill 223. The orders were to begin the push
at 6 a.m., just before sunrise. Take the hill and
advance across the valley to the mountains on the other
side to try to take the railroad, which was an
important lifeline for the German army supplies. By 6.10, we
(28:54):
reached the top of the hills. the German machine guns
were firing at us from both sides and in the
front of us. One by one, I watched as my
buddies were hit. And soon we secured Hill 223 and
we set our eyes towards the bush, towards the railroad.
But the valley was several hundred yards wide and machine
gun nests dug in on the opposite sides with more
(29:17):
guns perched on the mountain flanks and the ridges. To
even try and run across that valley seemed like suicide.
The first wave of American troops took off across the field.
They were cut down. The second wave came and suffered
the exact same fate. Almost every man was killed. Suddenly,
(29:38):
the order was given to dig in. in. We were
stopped dead in our tracks. The artillery shells kept falling
and 30 machine gun nests kept firing non-stop. We were
trapped and they knew exactly where we were. Somehow, we
had to get to those machine guns that were located
about 300 yards in front of us. We decided we
(29:58):
would send a small group to try to go around
and somehow attack the guns from the back. So I
was one of 17 men ordered to carry out the
surprise attack. Now the valley, it had lots of trees
and brush and hilly terrain for us to move stealthily
and quickly and quietly. We moved as our hearts were
beating out of our chest. Before long, we had crossed
(30:21):
over the hill and positioned ourselves in a gully behind them.
We were now in no man's land, behind enemy lines.
The brush was so thick we couldn't even see the Germans,
but the sound of the machine guns was a nightmare.
We kept moving until we crossed a small stream when
(30:42):
suddenly we stumbled upon 15 Germans who were eating their
breakfast in the middle of all this carnage. They jumped up,
and to our surprise, they threw their hands up and surrendered. Amazingly,
not one shot was fired. However, by now we had
been spotted by the machine guns on top of the hill.
and they turned their guns around and started shooting at us.
(31:05):
They were only 30 yards away. Six of us were
killed instantly, and three more wounded. That left only eight
of us. My friend Corporal Savage was among the dead.
All of my commanding officers were dead. That left me
in charge, and I was all alone out in the open.
The machine guns were cutting down the brush all around
(31:27):
me like a lawnmower. All the while, the Germans were
yelling orders to one another, and I couldn't understand anything
they were saying. I didn't know where my other seven
men were, but most of them were holding guns on
the German prisoners. I knew that the Germans would have
to pop their heads up to see where I was
and point their machine gun at me, and some calm
came over me like a rush of hot water. As
(31:49):
I laid there in the grass, I began to fire
back at the machine gun nest. I never blinked. and
every time I saw a German pop his head up
from behind those sandbags, it was like I was shooting
turkeys tied behind a log back in the mountains, except
those German heads were much bigger than turkey heads, and
there was no way I could miss. Anytime one of
(32:10):
them is so much as moved, I fired, and I
never missed the mark. It all went on for nearly
five minutes, nearly 30 machine guns firing all around me.
I emptied several clips, and the barrel of my gun
was red hot.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Suddenly.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Six Germans jumped up out of a nearby trench about
25 yards away, and they charged me with bayonets attached
to their rifles. They were screaming and running full speed.
I only had about a half a clip left in
my rifle, so I pulled out my pistol and I
shot every one of them. I immediately returned to firing
(32:44):
with my rifle at those machine guns. By now, I
had killed over 20 of them before a German major
appeared with his hands up out of the trench in
front of me yelling, English, English. And I replied, no, American.
And he yelled, if you'll stop firing, I'll make them surrender.
I quickly pointed my rifle at him and I said,
if you don't make them surrender, I'll blow your head off.
(33:07):
The major began blowing a whistle. And one by one,
they came down with their hands up and they threw
down their guns and their belts. One man was taken
off his belt when he threw a hand grenade at
me and it exploded in the air right in front
of me. Somehow I wasn't hurt and I killed him instantly.
(33:27):
Seeing that, every man on the hill surrendered, nearly 100
of them. And as I stood and looked around me,
every tree, every bush, and every bit of grass was gone.
Every area except the spot where I hid during the
assault had been shot up. There I stood without a
hair harmed on my head. God had truly kept me
(33:49):
from harm. All told, the mountain boy from East Tennessee,
Alvin York, had captured 132 German soldiers in one of
the greatest battles of World War I. He returned home
(34:11):
to America, hailed as the greatest war hero in history.
For his actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
A Hollywood movie was made about him.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Now, supposing these here cartridges is a flock of wild
turkeys that are flying across the region. Coming this way. See?
Right at me. Now, which one of them would you
shoot first? I'd take a crack at all of them
and trust the luck. Well, you wouldn't have no luck
that way, pusher. No? Well, then I'd pick the motorman.
The what? The motorman, the guy out in front. Well,
(34:42):
that ain't right either if you want to get more
than one turkey. Which one of them's got the most
meat on them? Yeah, what's the answer? Well, now, if
you shoot this one here, the leader, the rest of
them will see him drop and fly off, see? So,
you draw down on the last turkey gap. And then
the next one. See? Kind of coming from back to front.
Then the rest of them won't know they're being hit. And,
(35:05):
of course, they might flare off some when the shooting starts,
but if a fellow's got himself a repeating rifle, he's
got a good chance of getting the whole flock. Sounds
all right. I think he's sure he's dumb animals. Seems
you picked up a good bet down in the hills, Alvin. Well,
anybody that's done any hunting knows that.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
In every consumer product in America, wanted his endorsement. Yet,
Alvin turned his back on all of the fame, and
he returned home to his farm in Tennessee. He dedicated
the remainder of his life establishing schools and educational opportunities
for the mountain children of East Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And a terrific job on the editing, production, and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to J.D.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Phillips.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Who runs the popular YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller. And again,
a special thanks to J.D. Phillips for playing the part
of Alvin and reading from and performing parts of his
remarkable life story. And what a story it was. The
description of those battlefield scenes are remarkable. Those machine gun nests,
(36:17):
the flashing lights from those machine guns going day and night.
And all the while, memories rekindled about home. And Alvin said,
all I had in these moments was my faith in God.
And of course, he was relying on his faith in God,
facing the full force of a mighty German army and
a mechanized German army. And the world had never seen
(36:40):
mechanization like this before, combined with the savagery of bayonets.
So it was sort of an old war, World War I,
and a new war. And the combination and horrors of
both Remember, the first thing he was issued was a
gas mask because the use of gas in this war
was prominent as well, a barbaric type of warfare that
(37:01):
the Geneva Convention outlawed in World War II was not
used the way it might have because of that and
because of the experience with nerve gas. Then what he
was known for, that remarkable battle in which essentially he
captured over 130 Germans almost single-handedly. For his bravery, York
(37:22):
was awarded the Medal of Honor, and all because of
that crack shooting that he learned in the hill country
of Tennessee, turkey hunting. As he put it, the heads
of the Germans were a lot bigger than those turkey heads.
When he came back home, every consumer product company in
the world wanted his image, wanted his likeness, wanted his endorsement.
(37:46):
But he turned his back on fame, Sergeant Alvin York
did not. returned home to his farm in Tennessee, and
spent his adult life working on educational opportunity for the
East Tennessee mountain kids who've grown up just like him.
The story of Sergeant Alvin York, here on Our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Sergeant Alvin York, the reluctant World War I infantryman who
became an American legend, has stood as a symbol of
American courage and sacrifice for well over a century. The
(00:30):
Tennessee Mountaineer, whose religious convictions at first kept him from fighting,
became the recipient of the Medal of Honor for single-handedly
capturing or killing an entire German machine gun battalion. Here
to tell the story is J.D. Phillips, who runs the
popular YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
J.D.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Will be telling the story of Alvin York as Alvin himself,
using York's own words from his autobiography, Sergeant York. Let's
take a listen.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Truth be told, I couldn't tell you how long my
ancestors have called these mountains home. It's further back than
I could ever know. You see, they were the first
white people to ever set foot on this land, dating
back to my great-great-grandfather. When he first arrived, he lived
in a cave near the Wolf River in an area
(01:22):
now known as Pall Mall Valley in East Tennessee after
somehow getting past the Cherokees. And since he was the
first white man here, he had the first choice of
the land. And that's how it came to be that
my family owns all the valley and most of the
mountains surrounding it. Like most mountain men back in those days,
(01:42):
my grandpa was a fighter. He left this valley to
go and fight in the Great Mexican War, where he
served with skill and honor. However, war can kill a man,
even while his heart still beats, leaving a soulless man,
the equivalent of a dead man walking. And when my
grandpap returned from Mexico, oh, he was a shadow of himself,
(02:04):
and he soon died. Now, My grandpap on my mama's
side was also a fighter, a northerner who fought with
the cavalry. After the war, he had made enemies with
rival clans. Now back in those days, there was no
law to speak of, and every man put on a
pistol every morning, just as sure as he put on
his pants and his boots. When one of those leaders
(02:26):
of the rival clan died, folks pointed fingers at grandpap,
and even though there was no evidence, they killed grandpap.
They hooked a mule to his body. Then they drug
him through the dirt streets of Jamestown and they shot
his body to pieces as a warning to anyone who
might ever cross them. So you see, my ancestors were
(02:47):
all pioneers and soldiers, God-fearing people like most mountain folk.
I grew up in a one-room log cabin, the same
one my father and his father before him lived in.
I sat in the same spot where our ancestors first
cleared the land, hewn the logs with a broad axe.
(03:10):
The walls were chinked with horse hair, mud, and sticks,
and the inside of the cabin walls was covered in
newspapers and pages of magazines to help keep the bitter
winter cold out. My pa was a blacksmith, and his
shop was located in the very same cave where my
great-great-grandpa had spent his first night when he first came
(03:32):
into this valley. Like many of my ancestors that came
before me, this cave is where I cut my teeth
as a blacksmith apprentice. While work was a necessity of
daily life, my father's first love was hunting with his
trusty muzzleloader. He spent most of his days hunting and
blacksmithing at night. And Paul, he was the best shot
(03:54):
I'd ever seen in my life, and he taught me
how to shoot. He loved competing with other shooters, and
Paul would win every match. A popular game back then
was to tie a turkey behind a log, and the
marksmen would position themselves about 100 yards away, and they
would take turns shooting. Each time the turkey would poke
his head up from behind the log, the winner would
(04:16):
get 10 cents and get to keep the turkey. Paul's
advice to me would always be, just be accurate the
first time, and when you shoot a muzzleloader, well, we
all learn how to make each shot count. I love
my Paul. I grew up with him, and I worked
in the blacksmith shop with him. Like all mountain women,
(04:38):
my mom was a hard worker, and she loved the Lord,
her man, and her children. Even though we didn't have much,
she did her best to raise me right. And Lord knows,
she had her hands full with 11 boys and 3 girls.
Even though I was the third oldest of the boys,
I was the biggest and the strongest of all my brothers.
(05:00):
All of us kids had a hard time going to school,
mainly because back in those days, there were hardly any
schools in these remote mountains. And even if there was
a school, it would be three miles away, through the
rugged terrain, on a road that was barely more than
an animal trail. Most folks needed their kids at home,
(05:20):
helping with tending to the animals and the crops. So school, oh,
it was mostly an afterthought. It only ran for about
three months a year. But when it was in session
there would be a hundred or so barefooted mountain children
piled into a small one-room schoolhouse with primitive bench seating
with no backs. By the time I was in the
(05:42):
third grade, my pa, he suddenly died. Life could never
be the same, so I quit school, and I never
went back. All totaled, I had just nine months of schooling,
and with me being the biggest boy in the house,
I was suddenly tasked with somehow bringing money into the
household to help us survive. When I wasn't working on
(06:12):
our farm or in the blacksmith shop, my ma would
hire me out to work on neighboring farms for 40
cents a day. And by the time I was in
my teens and with my pa's stern hand no longer
around to guide me, It wasn't long before I started
getting into trouble and developing a reputation for being a
bit of a hill raiser. Ma did her best to
(06:34):
keep me in line, but every day after work, I'd
spend all night drinking and gambling. Now, just because I'd
quit school in third grade didn't mean I couldn't read. Oh, heck,
I loved to read about the outlaws, like Frank and
Jesse James. I admired the way those boys could shoot,
and I still loved to shoot, just like my pa
(06:55):
had taught me. I'd put a target up on a tree,
and I'd ride my horse around and around that tree,
shooting it up. Before long, I could shoot as well
as my paw ever did. And although I was working
as much as possible, my downfall proved to be the
powerful combination of moonshine and cards.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And you've been listening to J.D. Phillips, the Appalachian storyteller,
using the words of Sergeant York himself. When we come back,
more of this remarkable story here on Our American Stories.
Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to
subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
(07:39):
or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed
or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again,
please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast app on
Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts.
It helps us keep these great American stories coming. And
(08:09):
we continue with our American stories and with J.D. Phillips,
the Appalachian storyteller, telling the story of Alvin York, in
Alvin York's own words from his autobiography. Let's pick up
where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Week after week, I would gamble all my money away,
out all night drunk, and naturally, that led to fist fighting.
Now I can't tell you how many grown men I
fought when I was a teen, but I can tell
you this, I never got whipped unless it was by
my ma. Night after night, month after month, This went
(08:48):
on for nearly six years until I was in my
early 20s. Yet, each time I'd stare at the bottom
of another empty bottle, I realized that no matter how
much I drank, it would never be able to fill
the void inside my soul. Folks around me were living
their lives, but I was stuck in a drunken stover. Constantly,
(09:09):
I knew I needed to change. But like so many
great men before me, I was a slave to the
poison contained in each sip of moonshine. The only person
in my life who hadn't given up on me was
my mother. There she was, constantly telling me, Son, you
best go easy down that road and get right with
(09:29):
the Lord. One night, my best friend was killed in
a bar fight, and I'd staggered home, drunk and numb.
I got in after midnight, and I found my ma
sitting up, waiting for me. Ma, why aren't you in bed?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I asked.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I can't. I can't never sleep for worrying about the
day that somebody's going to come walking through that door
and telling me that you're dead, she said. And in
that moment, my mother's up and she looked deep into
my eyes and she said, Son, when are you going
to become a real man like your father and your grandfathers?
(10:11):
And those words hit me hard. And I promised her
that night that I would never drink again. I would
never smoke. Chew, cuss, or fight or gamble again. And
so it was. From that moment on, I never drank
any whiskey, touched any cards, or fought against any man.
(10:34):
My ma saved my life that night. Just like Paul
in the Bible, the things I once loved, I now hate.
One night, there was a revival and an evangelist from
Indiana was preaching. at the small church down the road.
His words spoke to me, and for the first time,
I really listened. I mean, I had grown up Methodist,
(10:58):
but there was something different about this preacher. And after
the meeting, I spent many days talking with him, and
I respected the words that this man spoke. He spoke
in a way I'd never heard before, and I believed
what he said, and he drew me closer to God.
He always spoke with the strict words from the scriptures.
It was far different than my Methodist upbringing. He spoke
(11:18):
of punishment for the wicked and a place of happiness
for those who live for the Lord. And before long,
I got saved in the Wolf Creek Church of Christ.
And eventually, I became an elder in the church. Heck,
I had always had a good singing voice. And soon,
I was leading the singing choir. Somehow, I had turned
my entire life around from the road of destruction that
(11:41):
I was bound for. Now, even though we didn't have
many newspapers, or major roads out in our little area,
the railroads were quickly being built, and they became the
primary source of how folks first got word of news
going on in the outside world. I was working on
(12:02):
the railroad in Harriman, Tennessee, when I heard about this
great war that was going on. A few weeks later,
I got a postcard in the mail telling me to
go register, just in case the government wanted me to
go fight in the war. There I was, a grown man,
30 years old. I was driving steel and blasting dynamite
in mountains, hoping to build the railroad for $ 1. 60 a day.
(12:28):
While I loved my country, I was a devout Christian,
and I'd swore off fighting many years ago, and the
very thought of killing a man went against every fiber
of my being. I simply wrote on that postcard that
I wouldn't go and fight because it was against my religion.
and I mailed it back to them. Yet, a few
(12:48):
months later, I got an official letter notifying me that
the Church of Christ wasn't recognized by the government as
an official religion. Therefore, my request not to fight was denied,
and I was ordered to report to Jamestown, Tennessee to
be shipped off to Army Basic Training in Atlanta, Georgia immediately.
(13:11):
For the next two nights, I wrestled deep within my
soul on what I should do, I couldn't find assurance
in the thought of fighting and killing foreign men who
I harbored no ill will or hate for. Suddenly, on
the third day, I found myself standing on my grandpa's
favorite spot on our farm. It was here that after
(13:31):
two and a half days, the voice of God spoke
to my heart and he assured me that the calling
was right and that it was all right for me
to go. And God assured me that I would return
to my family without a single scratch upon my head.
And while it was very hard for my mother and
my brothers and my sisters to accept, just like that,
(13:52):
I left the mountains of East Tennessee for the first
time in my life, bound for the unknown of the
other side of the world. Within a few days, I
arrived at Camp Gordon. After several days of traveling on
a train, I was exhausted. The first morning, they made
(14:12):
all the new recruits pick up cigarette butts in the yards.
I looked around and I saw nothing but sandy flatness.
I never realized how much I loved those mountains that
I grew up in until that moment. Before long, they
assigned me to Company G, 328th Infantry, the 82nd Division. Now,
(14:32):
this division was made up of men from every state
in America. There were rural folk and city folk, all
just blended together. Yet, I was the only mountain man
in the entire company. The only thing we all had
in common was we were all poor, or, as the
drill sergeants kept telling us, the best that America had
to offer to defend freedom. They put me in the
(14:53):
bunks near a bunch of Italian and Greek men. None
of us could understand what the other fellow was even saying.
Every night was a sleepless night. I had never been
so homesick in my entire life. Before long, they put
a gun in my hand, and they seemed proud of
the quality of the weapon. All those city boys beamed
with pride. Most of them, they had never held a
(15:16):
gun before. Me, my first thought was how greasy it was.
My pa had taught me how to keep a rifle
as clean as a newborn baby. Because back home, our
lives depended on these guns. First thing I did was
to take that thing and break it into a million
parts and clean it squeaky clean. The looks on the
drill sergeant's faces seemed like they had never seen someone
(15:38):
clean a gun like that before. And one of them
asked me how I knew how to do it. And
I replied, Sir, We make our own rifles back home, sir.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
We make our own rifles back home, sir, Alvin York
said to his commanding officer at the time. What a
scene that must have been, right? All these city slickers
holding a gun for the first time, and here's York
looking at it with semi-disgust, needing, feeling the urge to
take it apart and clean it up, and everybody just
(16:08):
watching in amazement. What a beautiful, simple, sort of hillbilly answer.
to a straight question. You're listening to J.D. Phillips, who
runs the popular YouTube channel The Appalachian Storyteller, and he's
using Sergeant York's own words from his autobiography, his own
(16:28):
life story and war diary. And my goodness, what a story.
Growing up in a one-room log cabin, the father of blacksmith,
and a great shot. When you shoot a muzzleloader, his
dad told him, you make each shot count. And boy,
they did. His dad dies when he's in the third grade.
He quits school and he never goes back. Only nine
(16:50):
months of education. But he's the oldest boy in the house.
He has to hit the streets. He has to hustle.
And he's got this void. He's lost his dad. And
he just starts to drink. He starts to gamble. And
he just starts getting into trouble. Then one night, his
best friend gets killed. He goes home and he sees
his mom dead. She says to him, son, when are
(17:13):
you going to become a real man like your father
and grandfather? And those words cut through him. The next
thing you know, he was getting his life in order.
An evangelist, a traveling evangelist came through town and he
rediscovered his faith and a spirit in him and just
gave up the bad things in his life and started anew.
(17:34):
Then came the call for the military. He tried to
get out of it, tried to claim a religious exemption.
It didn't happen. And then he heard this sense and
voice from God. The next thing you know, he finds
himself overseas, ready for war. The story of Alvin York
continues here on Our American Stories.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Our American Stories.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And we continue with our American stories and with the
story of Sergeant Alvin York as told by J.D.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Phillips.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Let's pick up where J.D. last left off.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Most of the new recruits were city boys. And I'll
tell you, they couldn't hit nothing with those guns. Not
only would they miss the entire target, but they'd miss
the entire hill that the target was mounted on. Me,
I'd been shooting squirrels since I was five and killing
turkeys at 150 yards. by the time I was nine.
Seems like all I remember doing in basic training was shooting,
(18:42):
but mostly hiking, while carrying as much weight as a
man could possibly haul by himself. Days of endless marching
and hikes and toting that gun, I never saw so
many folks fall out from exhaustion. Yet, before long, I
got a letter telling me that I'd been assigned to
the front lines on the other side of the world,
(19:04):
in France. Before long, I was on a train to
New York City and a few days later, Boston, Massachusetts.
An officer came through and he asked every man in
the company if they objected to going across the ocean
and fighting. When he asked me, I told him I
didn't object because I love my country. However, to be honest,
(19:25):
I wasn't sure who was even in the right or
the wrong in this war. He simply replied to me
that blessed are the peacemakers and that we were the peacemakers.
After hearing that, We all thought that as soon as
we got over there, we would be keeping the peace.
And I'll tell you right now, nothing could have been
further from the truth. At four o'clock the next morning,
(19:49):
we all loaded onto an old ship and we started
for France. This was the first time I'd ever seen
the ocean.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Water.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Everywhere I looked, water. And when I looked back towards America,
all I saw was water. While the Greeks and Italians
and the Jews withstood the voyage just fine, The rocking
back and forth of the ship kept me sick the
entire time. We went to sleep wearing our full gear
and life preservers, 24-7, just in case we were attacked.
(20:21):
I had never wanted to go back to those mountains
more than I did in that moment. Sixteen days later,
as the sun was setting on the water behind us
to the west, we arrived in Liverpool, England. Within three days,
we were on the move. traveling towards France. By now,
(20:41):
I was making friends with all the other fellas in
the company. My three friends were named Corporal Murray Savage
and Sergeant Harry Parsons. They were both from Brooklyn, New York,
and then there was Lieutenant Stewart from Georgia. Anyway, we
arrived in France, and the first thing they gave us
was gas masks. For the first month, it seemed that
all we would do was take a train to some
(21:02):
small town or village and hike around until we would
suddenly get orders board another train to some small town
or village and repeat the process. Finally, we got orders
to relieve the 26th Division boys in the Montsec sector
in Remboucourt. We moved during the middle of the night
and we would stay there for the next 10 days. Apparently,
(21:25):
this is where the Army would send all the new
troops for one final training session before sending them into
no man's land. Tennessee started to seem like something I'd
only dreamed in my mind. and I started to question
if it ever really existed or if I would ever
see it again. Occasionally, fire would come in from artillery shells.
(21:48):
Putting on gas masks became second nature because of the
constant gas shells, and then there was the constant threat
of snipers. Some of us knew meat. We would constantly
be ducking our heads as the sounds of bullets whizzed by.
But after a few boys were shot, We soon realized
that it was no use to duck, since no one
ever hears the bullet that hits them. At first, there
(22:12):
was the endless waiting in the trenches, and that seemed
to be the hard part for the Greeks and the Italians.
They wanted to go on the offensive. Every time one
of them would do something foolish, like sneaking out of
the trench, trying to get a better look at things,
someone would die. And that was the trouble with my platoon.
Everyone was so antsy, and they couldn't sit still. They
wanted to attack and get the war over with.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Me?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
I spent most of my time reading a small Bible
that I kept in my pocket. I must have read
that thing at least five times. We spent the next
two months constantly moving positions in the trenches. We never
knew what was the grand scheme of things. It was
hurry up and wait and always do what you're told. Suddenly,
(22:55):
without warning, we were part of a big American offensive.
We captured a small town named Norrie and we kept
clawing our way forward. Our whole battalion found ourselves right
in the heart of the St. Michael Drive and suddenly
we were on the front lines when the enemy launched
into an all-out offensive. We began losing men immediately to
(23:26):
machine gun fire. Our biggest problem was we were too
anxious to get to the enemy and we kept pushing
forward when we should have shown more patience. I'll say
this though, those Greeks and Italians, they moved full steam ahead,
no matter what the cost was. After we captured this town,
we went house to house, looking for any prisoners, or
(23:47):
anything of value that we might use. Most soldiers were
looking for booze, and they quickly drank any they found.
And while we were dug in here, there was a
huge grape vineyard in the distance, and the longer we
stayed dug in those trenches, the hungrier we all got.
and the better those grapes looked. Finally, we couldn't stand it,
so we all went into the vineyard, unaware that there
(24:09):
was a German observation balloon high above. They unleashed an
assault on us, and they killed several more of our men,
and once we made it back to the trenches, the
captain ordered us all to stay out of those grapes.
But I have to tell you, I was starving, and man,
I couldn't get those grapes out of my mind. So
that night, I snuck back into the vineyard as quiet
(24:33):
as a mouse, when suddenly, a mortar shell exploded nearby me.
I started running for my life when I ran into
another man and we both fell to the ground. I
quickly realized that it was the captain himself. Turns out,
he couldn't get those grapes off his mind either. It
(24:53):
seems like all of us tried hard to find some
humor to maintain our sanity, constantly wearing gas masks for
hours a day, constant bombing sharpshooters, and machine gun nests
killed men every day. And when a man was dead, dying,
or badly injured, no one came for him. They lay
there beside you for days at a time. Soon we
(25:18):
had orders to move to prepare for the Battle of Argon.
We hiked for miles through the woods that were shot
up something terrible. Even the ground was all tore up
from the shelling. By daybreak, We had made it to
the main road, and airplanes were buzzing our heads while
we crawled over dead men and horses. All the while,
(25:39):
shells were exploding all around us. Somehow, we made it
to the side of the road and some small holes
that served as makeshift bunkers. We weren't yet close enough
for the machine gun nest to reach us, but the
constant shelling from the airplanes was non-stop. And I saw
a lot of men just blown to pieces. When the
(26:02):
orders finally came in, it was our job to take
Hill 240 and Hill 223 by the next day. And
that day started wet with a slow drizzle, but that
didn't stop the shells from falling.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And you've been listening to J.D. Phillips, who runs the
popular YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller. And he's telling the
story of Alvin York as Alvin himself. using York's own
words from his autobiography, Sergeant York, His Own Life Story
and War Diary. And my goodness, what a story you're hearing,
(26:40):
thinking little in the beginning of what was to come because, well,
he hadn't seen combat yet. Being moved from place to
place within the United States, seeing the ocean for the
first time, meeting people from all kinds of different ethnic backgrounds,
thinking he was going to go over there and, quote,
keep the peace. And as he said, nothing could have
(27:01):
been further from the truth when he finally entered real combat.
And my goodness, what kind of combat those World War
I vets faced. When we come back, more of the
remarkable story of Sergeant Alvin York, here on Our American Stories.
(27:37):
And we continue with our American stories in the story
of Sergeant Alvin York. Let's pick up with J.D. Phillips,
where we last left off.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Our machine gun battalion was moving alongside us on the
opposite side of the road, and we saw bomb after
bomb fall on them. The whole area looked like a
tornado had tore through it. All day and all night long,
the machine gun nest flashed and fired non-stop. Somehow, in
(28:11):
that moment, my mind traveled back home to the other
side of the world. I was standing on the porch
of our log cabin watching an old-time thunderstorm roll across
the mountains. All I had in this moment was my
faith in God. Somehow, though, we mobilized with orders to
(28:34):
take Hill 223. The orders were to begin the push
at 6 a.m., just before sunrise. Take the hill and
advance across the valley to the mountains on the other
side to try to take the railroad, which was an
important lifeline for the German army supplies. By 6.10, we
(28:54):
reached the top of the hills. the German machine guns
were firing at us from both sides and in the
front of us. One by one, I watched as my
buddies were hit. And soon we secured Hill 223 and
we set our eyes towards the bush, towards the railroad.
But the valley was several hundred yards wide and machine
gun nests dug in on the opposite sides with more
(29:17):
guns perched on the mountain flanks and the ridges. To
even try and run across that valley seemed like suicide.
The first wave of American troops took off across the field.
They were cut down. The second wave came and suffered
the exact same fate. Almost every man was killed. Suddenly,
(29:38):
the order was given to dig in. in. We were
stopped dead in our tracks. The artillery shells kept falling
and 30 machine gun nests kept firing non-stop. We were
trapped and they knew exactly where we were. Somehow, we
had to get to those machine guns that were located
about 300 yards in front of us. We decided we
(29:58):
would send a small group to try to go around
and somehow attack the guns from the back. So I
was one of 17 men ordered to carry out the
surprise attack. Now the valley, it had lots of trees
and brush and hilly terrain for us to move stealthily
and quickly and quietly. We moved as our hearts were
beating out of our chest. Before long, we had crossed
(30:21):
over the hill and positioned ourselves in a gully behind them.
We were now in no man's land, behind enemy lines.
The brush was so thick we couldn't even see the Germans,
but the sound of the machine guns was a nightmare.
We kept moving until we crossed a small stream when
(30:42):
suddenly we stumbled upon 15 Germans who were eating their
breakfast in the middle of all this carnage. They jumped up,
and to our surprise, they threw their hands up and surrendered. Amazingly,
not one shot was fired. However, by now we had
been spotted by the machine guns on top of the hill.
and they turned their guns around and started shooting at us.
(31:05):
They were only 30 yards away. Six of us were
killed instantly, and three more wounded. That left only eight
of us. My friend Corporal Savage was among the dead.
All of my commanding officers were dead. That left me
in charge, and I was all alone out in the open.
The machine guns were cutting down the brush all around
(31:27):
me like a lawnmower. All the while, the Germans were
yelling orders to one another, and I couldn't understand anything
they were saying. I didn't know where my other seven
men were, but most of them were holding guns on
the German prisoners. I knew that the Germans would have
to pop their heads up to see where I was
and point their machine gun at me, and some calm
came over me like a rush of hot water. As
(31:49):
I laid there in the grass, I began to fire
back at the machine gun nest. I never blinked. and
every time I saw a German pop his head up
from behind those sandbags, it was like I was shooting
turkeys tied behind a log back in the mountains, except
those German heads were much bigger than turkey heads, and
there was no way I could miss. Anytime one of
(32:10):
them is so much as moved, I fired, and I
never missed the mark. It all went on for nearly
five minutes, nearly 30 machine guns firing all around me.
I emptied several clips, and the barrel of my gun
was red hot.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Suddenly.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Six Germans jumped up out of a nearby trench about
25 yards away, and they charged me with bayonets attached
to their rifles. They were screaming and running full speed.
I only had about a half a clip left in
my rifle, so I pulled out my pistol and I
shot every one of them. I immediately returned to firing
(32:44):
with my rifle at those machine guns. By now, I
had killed over 20 of them before a German major
appeared with his hands up out of the trench in
front of me yelling, English, English. And I replied, no, American.
And he yelled, if you'll stop firing, I'll make them surrender.
I quickly pointed my rifle at him and I said,
if you don't make them surrender, I'll blow your head off.
(33:07):
The major began blowing a whistle. And one by one,
they came down with their hands up and they threw
down their guns and their belts. One man was taken
off his belt when he threw a hand grenade at
me and it exploded in the air right in front
of me. Somehow I wasn't hurt and I killed him instantly.
(33:27):
Seeing that, every man on the hill surrendered, nearly 100
of them. And as I stood and looked around me,
every tree, every bush, and every bit of grass was gone.
Every area except the spot where I hid during the
assault had been shot up. There I stood without a
hair harmed on my head. God had truly kept me
(33:49):
from harm. All told, the mountain boy from East Tennessee,
Alvin York, had captured 132 German soldiers in one of
the greatest battles of World War I. He returned home
(34:11):
to America, hailed as the greatest war hero in history.
For his actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
A Hollywood movie was made about him.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Now, supposing these here cartridges is a flock of wild
turkeys that are flying across the region. Coming this way. See?
Right at me. Now, which one of them would you
shoot first? I'd take a crack at all of them
and trust the luck. Well, you wouldn't have no luck
that way, pusher. No? Well, then I'd pick the motorman.
The what? The motorman, the guy out in front. Well,
(34:42):
that ain't right either if you want to get more
than one turkey. Which one of them's got the most
meat on them? Yeah, what's the answer? Well, now, if
you shoot this one here, the leader, the rest of
them will see him drop and fly off, see? So,
you draw down on the last turkey gap. And then
the next one. See? Kind of coming from back to front.
Then the rest of them won't know they're being hit. And,
(35:05):
of course, they might flare off some when the shooting starts,
but if a fellow's got himself a repeating rifle, he's
got a good chance of getting the whole flock. Sounds
all right. I think he's sure he's dumb animals. Seems
you picked up a good bet down in the hills, Alvin. Well,
anybody that's done any hunting knows that.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
In every consumer product in America, wanted his endorsement. Yet,
Alvin turned his back on all of the fame, and
he returned home to his farm in Tennessee. He dedicated
the remainder of his life establishing schools and educational opportunities
for the mountain children of East Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
And a terrific job on the editing, production, and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to J.D.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Phillips.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Who runs the popular YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller. And again,
a special thanks to J.D. Phillips for playing the part
of Alvin and reading from and performing parts of his
remarkable life story. And what a story it was. The
description of those battlefield scenes are remarkable. Those machine gun nests,
(36:17):
the flashing lights from those machine guns going day and night.
And all the while, memories rekindled about home. And Alvin said,
all I had in these moments was my faith in God.
And of course, he was relying on his faith in God,
facing the full force of a mighty German army and
a mechanized German army. And the world had never seen
(36:40):
mechanization like this before, combined with the savagery of bayonets.
So it was sort of an old war, World War I,
and a new war. And the combination and horrors of
both Remember, the first thing he was issued was a
gas mask because the use of gas in this war
was prominent as well, a barbaric type of warfare that
(37:01):
the Geneva Convention outlawed in World War II was not
used the way it might have because of that and
because of the experience with nerve gas. Then what he
was known for, that remarkable battle in which essentially he
captured over 130 Germans almost single-handedly. For his bravery, York
(37:22):
was awarded the Medal of Honor, and all because of
that crack shooting that he learned in the hill country
of Tennessee, turkey hunting. As he put it, the heads
of the Germans were a lot bigger than those turkey heads.
When he came back home, every consumer product company in
the world wanted his image, wanted his likeness, wanted his endorsement.
(37:46):
But he turned his back on fame, Sergeant Alvin York
did not. returned home to his farm in Tennessee, and
spent his adult life working on educational opportunity for the
East Tennessee mountain kids who've grown up just like him.
The story of Sergeant Alvin York, here on Our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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