Alvin+Cullum+York


 * Alvin Cullum York a great World War I hero also know as Sergeant York**



Sgt. Alvin York. www.mentalfloss.com

Alvin Cullum York was a very well decorated World War One vet. He was born December 13th, of 1887 at Pall Mall Tenessee. He didnt have any eduacation.Sgt. York was a very courages soldier for the 82nd Infantry Division out of Camp Gourdon Georgia. He was born to an improvised farming family he was the third child out of eleven. Before the war he was prone to bar fights and a violent alcoholic. One night him and his friend who where both very drunk and got into a fight and his friend was killed in the fight. On June 5h of 1917, 29 years old , he got a notice that he had to sign up for the draft. From that date of June 5th 1917 to when he got back from World War I on May 29th of 1919 he kept a journal l of all of his activities during that time period. He was awarded the Congressional Medal Of Honor.Also he was awarded the Legion D'honneun which is the French equivalent to the Medal Of Honor. Also he was given the World War I victory medal. He was awarded these medals because of his actions on October 18th, 1918. When Sgt. York and his men ,4 non commissioned officers and 13 privates, where ordered to infiltrate behind the German lines to take out there machine gun nests. They captured a larger group of German soldiers ,132, when German machine gun fire killed 6 American soldiers and wounded 3 others and now Sgt. York was in charge. He left his men to guard the German prisoners while he moved up to silence the machine guns he took 32 German machine gun nests out of action, he killed 28 Germans while they where attacking the machine gun nests. Befor World War Two he tried to reenlist intothe ARMY but he wasn't aloud to because of his age, he was to old to enlist before WWII. Sgt. York is similar to todays ARMY Rangers since he was told to infiltrate behind the enemy lines with a small team of men to take out a greater opposotion force also since he went up and beyond the call of duty to silence the German machine guns fully recognizeing what he was doing to save more men from being slaughtered while charging the Germn held trenches.

"Well I'm as much agin' killin' as ever, sir. But it was this way, Colonel. When I started out, I felt just like you said, but when I hear them machine guns a-goin', and all them fellas are droppin' around me... I figured them guns was killin' hundreds, maybe thousands, and there weren't nothin' anybody could do, but to stop them guns. And that's what I done."- Alvin Cullum York. [|www.imdb.com]