Sgt. Alvin C. York shows the hill on which the raid took place on October 8, 1918 in the Argonne Forest, near Cornay, France after WWI. Sergeant Alvin York (December 13, 1887-September 2, 1964) was one of the most decorated American soldiers in World War I. Initially, he sought draft exemption as a conscientious objector and a deeply religious man. He thought the commandment "thou shalt not kill" was a divine law always to be obeyed. Later, after he changed his mind, the Tennessee hillbilly became the most celebrated doughboy of all when he singlehandedly overpowered a German machine-gun battalion, taking 132 prisoners and leaving 25 dead. During World War II, York attempted to re-enlist in the Army, but he was 54, overweight, near-diabetic, and with evidence of arthritis, he was denied enlistment as a combat soldier. Instead, he was commissioned a major in the Army Signal Corps and he toured training camps and participated in bond drives in support of the war effort, usually paying his own travel expenses. York and his wife Grace had eight children, six sons and two daughters, most named after American historical figures: Alvin Cullum, Jr., George Edward Buxton, Woodrow Wilson, Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, Betsy Ross, Mary Alice, and Thomas Jefferson. He died at the Veterans Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1964, of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 76 years old.
