Sergeant York: An American Hero

by David D. Lee

" Alvin C. York went out on a routine patrol an ordinary, unknown American doughboy of the First World War. He came back from no-man's-land a hero. In a brief encounter on October 8, 1918, during the Argonne offensive, York had killed 25 German soldiers and, almost singlehandedly, effected the capture of 132 others. Returning to the United States the following spring, he received a tumultuous public welcome and a flood of offers from businessmen eager to capitalize on his acclaimed feat. But York, true to his character, went quietly back to his home in the Tennessee mountains, where he spent the remainder of his life working to bring schools and other services to those remote valleys where his neighbors lived. In this definitive biography, David D. Lee has firmly established the simple facts of Alvin York's life, distinguishing them from the myths which have grown up around the man. He has reexamined the sometimes conflicting accounts of the famous exploit, finding in his research a hitherto unknown report of the skirmish from German military archives. Lee goes beyond that single wartime episode, however, to consider its consequences on York's later life -- his efforts, not always successful, to better his mountain community; his involvement in making a motion picture of his life; his difficulties with money and taxes. But Sergeant York is better known as a symbol than as an individual, and in this study Lee connects the man and his life to an American heroic ideal. With his rural background, his refusal to take commercial advantage of his fame, and his simple piety, Alvin York exemplified the traditional values of an agrarian America that was in his own day already receding into the past. He claimed a special place in the hearts of his countrymen, Lee concludes, because his life seemed to show that the virtues of the common man continued to be a vital part of American society.

Genres: Biography, American History, History, Military Fiction

184 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1985

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how a book about such an interesting man could be this dull.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the reader is familiar with Alvin York, it's likely due to the movie Sergeant York with Gary Cooper which - as usual - took some liberties but the real York approved of as the royalties were used for the Bible school he wanted to build his Fentress county hometown of Pall Mall. Even though it got him in trouble with the IRS. . . .

Anyway, this is mostly an overview or recap of Alvin York's life with commentary regarding the harsh conditions and poverty of rural Tennessee in the decades after the Civil War. The incident during World War I France is only a minor part of the book. It is mostly about his fights to improve conditions for the rural eastern Tennessee mountain region. He realized he didn't have the education, experience with fund-raising or school systems but he was willing to use newspapers and politics to get the roads built as well as the schools.

By the time, World War II came along, the author gives the impression that York was quite the xenophobe - encouraging Japanese Americans be placed in internment camps. He was also quite the anti-communist, feeling that the atom bomb should be used on the Soviets. He felt that it could have been the answer to the Korean war.

But what the book is mostly about is the burdens of imposed fame and living up to those distorted fairy tales verses what the real individuals and their families must endure. What society views as what a hero is as opposed to the person who has faults and can make mistakes.

2022-118

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story, well known to the "Greatest Generation". A touching story about how the begining of the twentieth century seemed to bypass the area in Southern U.S. known as Appalachia. York became a religious teacher and objected to the war when WWI draft took him. An officer and York spent an entire nigh debating the Bible pro and con regarding the reason od WWI. As we know he accepted the Officer's point and became a war hero. This was a tragedy for York's family as he became famous and was not educationally or worldy prepared to handle this fame, and the financial problems that came with it.

An inteeresting part of the book was when they compared York and WWII hero Audie Murphy. Both came from very lsarge families, both grew uip in poverty both went into the army and both saw combat. Both became heroes and had a lot of fame when the came home after the war. Very different outcomes.

[Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

According to this book (I have NOT seen this info elsewhere) He met his wife when she was a baby and immediately knew that was his wife — and told everyone “while she was still in pigtails” that that was his wife. York was “very private” about when he started having… relations… with the baby/child/minor.
WTF, dude?
Disgusting
And slander if you’re making that all up.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting biography! More on Bookwinked at https://wp.me/p10jBT-1dp

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alvin York grew up in the Appalachia mountains amid remnants of feuds from the civil war. He was an excellent marksman and rather rowdy. In his late 20’s he decided that wasn’t the way to live & became religious. However, his conscientious objection to the war was ignored. It was some struggle for him to become reconciled to war, but he rationalized it as “peacekeeping.”

This book tells his background, and the fascinating story of how he walked out of the woods with 132 German prisoners, having killed 25, and taken out 35 machine gun installations. (World War 1)

Once he became convinced of the rightness of the cause, he had a faith that carried him safely through the conflict.

It was such delightful reading that I read the account of the battle aloud to my wife.

[Lisa Bodner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy books about real life heroes. I first saw the movie staring Gary Cooper. It was mad in the 1940's and then I was interested to learn more about his life. It was not a page turner, but I found it interesting. A little known real American war hero.