[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 139 (Friday, September 25, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SGT. ALVIN C. YORK--WWI AMERICAN SOLDIER

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 25, 2015

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Sergeant York is one of the most 
decorated American heroes of the 20th century. A Congressional Medal of 
Honor recipient, he is best remembered for his role in a battalion to 
capture German positions during an attack in 1918 in the Chatel-Chehery 
region of France on the war's Western Front. A German machine gun fire 
attack resulted in the loss of numerous Americans, leaving York in 
charge of the seven remaining soldiers. Leaving his men under cover, 
Sergeant York ventured out to silence the enemy fire.
  As he describes in his diary:

       Those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the 
     undergrowth all around me something awful. There were over 
     thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was 
     touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp 
     shooting . . . All the time I kept yelling at them to come 
     down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it 
     was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had.

  York's courageous assault resulted in 20 enemy casualties and 132 
captures. The young soldier was immediately promoted and awarded the 
Distinguished Service Cross. Later, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. 
The citation describes his deeds as ``fearless'', ``daring'' and 
``heroic''.
  But while the description is fair, in many ways York's story is not 
just one of the battlefield and it is worth reflecting on York the man, 
not the myth.
  A person of deep Christian faith, Sergeant York was converted--or as 
he put it ``saved''--in his late teens by the Reverend M. H. Russell, 
known in Tennessee as the ``evangelist of the mountains''.
  While in his youth he admits to being inclined to sin, since joining 
the Church of Christ in Christian Union, York found more righteous 
pursuits, teaching children scripture and singing in the choir.
  ``I am a good deal like Paul,'' York wrote in his diary. ``The things 
I loved, I now hate.''
  When, in 1917, the United States heard the call of its allies and 
joined the war effort, the young churchgoer and singer received a note 
requiring him to report to his local board.
  Despite rising to be a military hero, York was unsure whether the war 
was just, torn between the pacifism of his faith and patriotism for his 
country.
  ``I was bothered a plenty as to whether it was right or wrong,'' he 
wrote. ``I knew that if it was right, everything would be all right.''
  ``And I also knew that if it was wrong and we were only fighting for 
a bunch of foreigners, it would all be wrong. And I prayed and prayed. 
I prayed two whole days and a night out on the mountainside. And I 
received my assurance direct from God . . . that it was all right, and 
that I was coming back.''
  Well Sergeant York did come back and the people of Tennessee should 
be very pleased.
  Following the war, York returned to the region of his boyhood in the 
Wolf River valley of Tennessee and committed himself to public service. 
A national figure upon his return, he turned down offers for 
endorsements, public appearances and even the movie rights to his life, 
instead turning attention to the needs of his local community.
  He lobbied the Tennessee State Legislature for funds for education 
and infrastructure and in 1926 established a school in Fentress County, 
which still stands today.
  When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Sergeant York responded 
simply: ``For improving education in Tennessee''.
  We remember him for much more than that today--for his patriotic 
service of his nation and God.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________