What is alvin york

A stroke left him partially paralyzed until his death on Sept. He is buried in the family cemetery, close to where he was born and raised. York Patriotic Foundation. Learn more about Alvin York here and here.

Skip to main content. This action was to take place at the start of the second phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. This offensive would become the most decisive allied on the Western Front — lasting until the November Armistice. On the way, York and the men found themselves flanking a much larger enemy force, which surrendered in confusion. However, once the German soldiers realized the small size of the unit, two machine gun nests opened fire prompting York to assault the machine gun positions on his own.

When approaching the nests, six German soldiers charged York, who slew each one with his pistol and forced both machine gun nests to surrender. For this effort, he was promoted in the field from corporal to sergeant and was awarded the Distinguished Cross, which was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor and awarded to him by Gen. John J. Pershing, commanding general of the American Expeditionary Forces. After the war, York chose not to capitalize on his fame and resisted efforts to profit off of his newfound fame, instead preferring to return to his quiet life in rural Tennessee where he would go on to raise a family of eight children with his wife Gracie.

The film became a box office success and received two academy awards. The profits York received went toward building a bible school. He also started the Alvin C. Robert C. Byrd is best known as the longest-serving senator and longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress.

An author of nearly books, Arthur C. James C. Maxwell was a 19th-century pioneer in chemistry and physics who articulated the idea of electromagnetism. The most decorated U. The gunners cut down nine men, including a superior officer, leaving York in charge of the squad. As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. In order to sight me or to swing their machine guns on me, the Germans had to show their heads above the trench, and every time I saw a head I just touched it off.

All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had. On the way back to the Allied lines, York and his squad took more prisoners, for a total of Though Alvin York consistently played down his accomplishments of that day, he was given credit for killing more than 20 German soldiers. Promoted to the rank of sergeant, he remained on the front lines until November 1, 10 days before the armistice.

York Institute , in rural Tennessee. In , his heroism became the basis for a movie, Sergeant York , starring Gary Cooper.