He didn't really want to fight a war, but it was for his country and supposedly, God would forgive him for that. He had discussed it with the preacher and was assured that God would understand. He would leave his family and friends - and that cute little Gracie Williams until it was over, if need be.

On October 8, 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, he was ordered to advance with his squad and platoon into a small valley that had steep ridges on each side. The Americans advanced, until heavy machine gun fire halted them. The murderous fire was dropping Americans at a very heavy rate. Among those men killed were the platoon sergeant and two replacements, who were in charge only long enough to be killed. As the NCOs (non commissioned officers) fell, the few remaining men looked to him for leadership - he was the ranking enlisted man at that point, a corporal. He had been in charge of a squad, usually a dozen or so men, but now that was reduced to seven plus himself. The problem would have been bad enough if they had known the source of the deadly fire, but they didn't. A safe bet was that the gunners were hidden in the ridges that lined the valley. The menacing gunfire was seeking out and eating away at the few men left and to make matters even worse, artillery began to fall in the little valley!

He received word by messenger, that his squad was to join two other squads to try to silence the machine guns. Squad? What squad? Only seven of them remained!

He was shocked when he discovered that the two other squads consisted of only nine men! But, together they began an approach toward the machine guns, whose location someone had finally identified.

They managed to work their way through a stand of trees, up a hill and behind the enemy machine guns, concealed on the ridge. Here, they overran the headquarters of one enemy unit, taking prisoners in the process. This act silenced those particuliar machine guns.

While attending to the prisoners, suddenly more machine gun fire hammered the area, killing six more Americans and wounding three, two of whom were standing next to him. He was back to seven men again and the machine gun fire was much more intense than before. He lay on the ground in a footpath surrounded by small bushes. All others, prisoners included, were on the ground, trying to shield themselves from the bullets.

The machine guns that were doing the damage were ones that had earlier been pointed in the opposite direction, but they had been repositioned after the small contingent had captured the headquarters unit. These guns were only about thirty yards away from his own position. Amid heavy machine gun fire, he began to return fire, one shot at a time. Every machine gun in the area was now leveled at him and firing! With each shot he fired, an enemy soldier fell. As the enemy sprayed the area, chopping up the small brush around him, he responded with one carefully placed round after another. It wasn't much, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances. After firing twenty-one rounds from his rifle, he ran out of ammunition, removed his pistol from its holster and continued to fire. And in a short while, it took a toll on the enemy. In time, he shot twenty-five enemy gunners.

An enemy lieutenant opened fire on him with a handgun, expending all his ammunition; he missed! The lieutenant then raised his hands to surrender. Seeing the number of men that he had so quickly lost, the lieutenant ordered all his remaining men to surrender! In addition, a major, who had been captured earlier, promised him that if he didn't kill anymore of them, he would convince the others to abandon their machine guns and surrender. The surrender was eagerly accepted.

In all, he was credited with reluctantly killing twenty-five enemy soldiers and capturing one hundred thirty two, including a major and several other officers! Unofficially, he was credited with putting out of commission thirty-five enemy machine guns!

The task at hand, at that point, was to get the prisoners, all one hundred thirty two of them to the CP (command post) and turn them over to proper authority. Shortly afterward, he was informed that there was talk of a promotion and a medal. His story was rare in that it was verified by both American forces and captured enemy forces on the day of its occurrence.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross first for this heroic act and later, after a full investigation, he was awarded the US' highest award for valor, the Congressional Medal of Honor! Oh, and his promotion came through with absolutely no problem. He wasn't a corporal anymore, from then on, he was a sergeant, Sergeant Alvin C. York of Pall Mall, Tennessee. - That's up by the Three Forks of the Wolf River.

Sergeant York's fame traveled home far more quickly than he did, he was suddenly famous to people on both sides of the Atlantic. During his voyage back home, the rifle and handgun that the army had issued to him, the same ones he used that day, went missing. They have never been found.

After his return home, he devoted a great deal of his time to helping establish schools for the children of the Appalacia area.

Sergeant York and Gracie Williams were married in 1919 and remained so until his death on September 2, 1964.

Please vist the Home of Heroes at http://www.homeofheroes.com/

For more information and photos of Sergeant York, please visit http://www.alvincyork.org/