Birthday of Note

On this date, in 1887 Alvin C. York was born in the Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf near Pall Mall TN.

During the Meuse-Argonne offensive, in the space of 3 hours and 15 minutes, on October 8th 1918 the then Corp. York was responsible for the capture of 132 German soldiers as well as 20 heavy Maxim machine guns and was said to have killed 30 other German soldiers. For this heroism he was promoted to the rank of Sgt. and awarded the following decorations:

Congressional Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Cross
French Croix de Guerre
French Legion of Honor
The Croce di Guerra of Italy
War Medal of Montenegro

Sgt. York remained a humble man even with the fame that he garnered from his heroism. He kept his religious faith intact and used whatever rewards that he received to help others. He died in 1964 almost forgotten by the American public.