Controversial Battlefield Archaeology – Sergeant York Site

[MRomanych]

“In war, truth is the first casualty.” A quote, that in various forms, is attributed to various persons, including Greek tragic dramatis Aeschylus (525 BC - 456 BC). It seems to apply to the following events.

Sergeant Alvin C. York is perhaps one of the best known American personages of WWI. The exact battlefield site where he earned the Medal of Honor has been lost to posterity, perhaps…until now. Two different research groups using very different methodologies claim to have found the exact spot. The first group from the University of Tennessee and with close connections to the Alvin York homestead and family, using GPS technology claimed the first discovery in late 2006. A few months later, a second group of Army personnel stationed in Germany, claimed to have found the correct site using military analyst techniques. The second site is but a hundred meters or so from the first reported site. The two groups have been at odds since.

Here are news reports of the two groups’ discoveries (as they unfolded) and then links to their respective websites. It is suggested that readers apply a critical eye to evaluating each group's motivations, sources, and methodologies.

From CBNNews.com

In Search of Sergeant York
By Steven L. Warren
December 24, 2006

MURFREESBORO, TN - He was a man of great faith and conviction. He also proved to be a crack shot.

A soldier with the American Expeditionary Force in France, he is credited with single-handedly capturing 132 German soldiers. However, the actual battle site where he performed his heroic deeds was lost over time.

Now 88 years later, the World War I battlefield where Sergeant Alvin C. York won the Medal of Honor has at last been found.

After several years of study and field work, a team of researchers believe they have found the French battlefield where York of the 328th Infantry won his nation's highest decoration on October 8, 1918.

Recovery of a U-S Collar Disk -- The Big Clue

The research team led by geographer Tom Nolan, a member of the geosciences faculty at Middle Tennessee State University, and Michael Birdwell, an Alvin York scholar and member of Tennessee Tech University's history faculty, recently uncovered more than 1,400 artifacts at the site in Châtel - Chehéry, France.

The discovery of a United States Army collar disk stamped '328 Infantry G,' York's own company, added to the evidence gathered by the team. Soldiers in the U-S Army during the First World War wore these types of brass disks on the collars of their uniforms to often denote in what branch of the army, battalion or company they belonged.

The team scoured the French location with metal detectors to find and recover the treasure-trove of artifacts. The artifacts are described as items discarded by German soldiers when they surrendered to York and his men. The items include German gas masks, German gas mask filters, German bayonets, Mauser rifle bolts, fired German and U.S. rifle rounds, and spent Colt.45 rounds.

The research team relied on advanced mapping technology In their efforts to locate the York battle site. Nolan used GIS with information obtained from historic French and German battle maps as well as maps annotated by York's commanding officers, Col. G. Edward Buxton and Maj. E.C.B. Danforth.
They also used written accounts by both the German and American participants. This information was then superimposed upon the modern landscape to help the researchers focus and better target their metal-detection fieldwork.

"While historic interpretation and surface archaeology were both important, it was geography and GIS that provided the means to interpret that information and relate it to the modern landscape," observed Nolan. "Without geography and GIS, we would not have been able to do what we did, meaning find the York battlefield site."

Legendary Feats of Extraordinary Heroism

On October 8, 1918 in the Argonne Forest, York's battalion was ordered to advance across a valley and take two hills from the German forces. At this point, the combined American squads, including Corporal York's, was 17 men. Assigned to the enemy's left, the squad commanders decided to flank the enemy and try to make their approach from the rear.

During the advance, the Americans stumbled across the headquarters of the machine gun regiment. The Germans were eating breakfast at the time and were taken totally by surprise. Most of the enemy troops surrendered, but one German shot at York, who quickly killed the him with a single shot.

The Americans disarmed and organized their prisoners. However, by this time the enemy machine gunners on the hill had been alerted. The machine guns opended fire taking out nine Americans, including an officer. This left Corporal York in charge and the action would prove to be the only German high point in the battle.

As the machine gun raked the American troops, York was standing out in the open. Almost immediately, he began to exchange shots with the enemy without seeking cover. The corporal quickly saw that in order for the Germans to swing their guns into place, they had to show their heads above their trench. He later wrote in his diary, "Every time I saw a head I just touched it off. 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."

"Suddenly a German officer and five men jumped out of the trench and charged me with fixed bayonets. I changed to the old automatic and just touched them off, too. I touched off the sixth man first, then the fifth, then the fourth, then the third, and so on. I wanted them to keep coming. I didn't want the rear ones to see me touching off the front ones. I was afraid they would drop down and pump a volley into me."

A German major who had already been captured had seen enough. The English-speaking officer told York, "If you don't shoot any more, I will make them surrender." All but one of the Germans gave up. That one German even managed to throw a small hand grenade before York killed him.

The eight American soldiers now faced the overwhelming task of leading more than 80 prisoners through enemy lines. York put the German major at the head of the column, placing his Colt.45 against the enemy officer's back. The seven other men then surrounded their prisoners, keeping a watchful eye.

As York and his men led the captured Germans back to their own lines, German soldiers and other machine gunners attempted to fire on the Americans. York forced the German officer to order them to surrender. All but one willingly gave up. According to York, "I made the major order him to surrender twice. But he wouldn't. And I had to touch him off. I hated to do it. But I couldn't afford to take any chances and so I had to let him have it."

By the time York and his small squad reached the safety of the American lines they had captured 132 Germans, including three officers. Word quickly spread that York had single-handedly "captured the whole German army." An Army inspection of the battle scene revealed 28 dead German soldiers.

The Army's Investigation of the Battle

According to the official Army report, York's description of the battle was accurate though "York's statement tends to underestimate the desperate odds which he overcame."

A general once asked York how he managed to accomplish his feat. York told the officer, "Sir, it is not man power. A higher power than man guided and watched over me and told me what to do."
For his bravery, York was awarded the Medal of Honor and was also promoted to the rank of sergeant.

Thirteen years later, Warner Brothers released the movie entitled Sergeant York. It starred Gary Cooper, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the backwoods soldier.

York donated his profits from the movie to the Alvin C. York Institute, which he had established in 1926 to provide educational opportunities denied him to the boys and girls of Fentress County, Tennessee.

York was a true American hero and his story still inspires many Americans today.

French Officials to Erect Historic Marker

At present, the research team is identifying and cataloging all of the artifacts from the battlefield for museum display.

As a result of the team's find, French authorities intend to erect an historic marker at the location of the machine-gun nest overlooking the once-lost spot where Pall Mall, Tennessee, native York fired his weapons and where the nine soldiers were wounded or killed.

"They are planning to dedicate the marker next October at a ceremony to be attended by the research team, and hopefully, by representatives from the State of Tennessee and the presidents of Middle Tennessee State University and Tennessee Technological University in October 2007," Birdwell said.

The Sergeant York Project website: http://www.sergeantyorkproject.com/about_the_historians.htm


Army Officer: Sgt. York Battle Site Located
By Steven L. Warren
March 25, 2007

CBNNews.com - Last December, CBNNews.com published an article concerning the announcement by a group of Tennessee university researchers that they had found the legendary battle site where Sergeant Alvin C. York won the Medal of Honor on October 8, 1918.

The research team led by geographer Tom Nolan, a member of the geosciences faculty at Middle Tennessee State University, and Michael Birdwell, an Alvin York scholar and member of Tennessee Tech University's history faculty, uncovered more than 1,400 artifacts at a site near Châtel-Chehéry, France.
Now one man has come forward to challenge the researchers claims. United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Mastriano says the researchers are simply in the wrong place. And he says he has the proof to back up his claim.

Mastriano, a military intelligence officer working for NATO, has spent six years researching York's story using both American and German military accounts of the battle.

It is an accepted fact that the general area where York's heroic fight took place was near the village of Châtel-Chehéry. Both York scholars and armchair historians agree on this point. However, conflicting written accounts have made it almost impossible to pinpoint exactly where the actual fight took place. Even though York went back to the battle site in January of 1919 to show a U.S. Army investigation team exactly what happened and where.

York's heroic deeds and even the army's investigation were portrayed in the 1941 movie Sergeant York. Actor Gary Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the role of York. York, himself, was an advisor to the film's producers.

Team Finds Artifacts Described by York

Most historians in the search, including Mastriano, agree that the key to finding the actual site would be the discovery of a concentration of empty.45 caliber cartridge casings. These casings would provide the best evidence of where York was located during the firefight. He described firing his rifle toward machine gunners on a hill before pulling out his Colt.45 automatic to shoot seven German soldiers, who had charged him. The Army's History of the 82nd Division published in 1919 recounts York emptied three complete clips from his.45 for a total of 21 rounds fired.

In October 2006, Mastriano led a team of military officers, veterans, researchers, family members and battlefield archaeologists armed with metal detectors in search of the battle site west of Châtel-Chehéry in the Argonne Forest. The team recovered 21 empty.45 cartridge casings scattered over a ten-foot area near the base of a hill. German and American rifle rounds were also found.
Mastiano claims the artifacts found by his team fit closely with York's own account. He has even had the casings examined by a ballistics expert, who confirmed all of the cartridges came from the same gun.

Team Member Believes York's Account

Kory O'Keefe was a member of Mastriano's search team. In an e-mail to CBN News he wrote, "Doug wet my appetite for the search by telling me the German side of the York story and how he was amazed that no one he talked to could pinpoint the actual place where it all happened. In recent times, the testimony of York was being questioned as to the authenticity of the events and that maybe York did not really do all that is said of him."

O'Keefe believes York did performed all of the amazing feats of heroism that were documented in 1919. "From what I knew of York, he was an honest, humble and God-fearing man," he said. "One who would not embellish the facts of his actions for fame, fortune and recognition. To find the actual spot where York earned the Medal of Honor and see if the artifacts confirm the story, was something I felt was important and worth the effort. Finding the York spot for me meant one, playing a role in confirming York's testimony to be true and accurate and two, the chance to share this story of faith to a new generation of people."

German Archives Pinpoint the Battle Site's Location

"The claim by Mr. Birdwell that they found the spot where York earned the Medal of Honor is completely wrong," Mastiano said in a statement to The Associated Press last fall. "Their declaration is not supported by battlefield archeology, German archival data, military doctrine or terrain analysis and most importantly, the Germans that York fought and captured were never there."

Mastriano said his team's work and successful search for right location was accomplished by extensive research done in German archives in Stuttgart, Freiburg, Potsdam, Rottweil and Ulm, which resulted in more than 700 hours spent pouring over extensive archival records across Germany and the U.S. "The biggest obstacle that Mr. Birdwell faces is that they did not spend a single day in the German archives, where the most important York related documents are," he told the AP. "They are missing at least 100 essential documents. Because of this, they went into the Argonne with only half of the story and ended up in the wrong valley, finding artifacts from a different battle, a battle that York, and the Germans he ultimate fought with, were not in."

"This claim is rife with numerous other problems and is not helped by the fact that the core of their team has no military experience. A trained military eye can see that their claim is not logical from a tactical point of view," he said.

Mastriano has completed a 47-page report on his findings, which has been reviewed by the Châtel-Chehéry mayor and the French government archaeologist assigned to the Champagne-Ardennes region.

In his report, Mastriano explains how his evidence confirms that York fought and captured soldiers from the German 125th and 120th Württemberg regiments and the 210th Prussian regiment. The report indicates there is only one spot in the entire Argonne Forest where these three units overlapped. It is the same spot found by Mastriano and his team. This location is 600 meters from where the research team from Tennessee report they found their artifacts.

But what about the artifacts found by Birdwell's team? Mastriano explained many of the artifacts displayed by the university researchers are French light Chauchat machine gun bullets. None of the sixteen Americans with York on October 8, 1918 carried this type of weapon.

In addition, Mastriano says the photographs taken by the army investigation team in 1919 do not match the Tennessee researchers site.

To Honor a True American Hero

To honor York's legacy, Mastriano would like to see the construction of a Sergeant York Historic Trail in the Argonne Forest. He has even mapped out the trail's route, so visitors could walk in the footsteps of York. He foresees historical markers placed at the appropriate locations marking highlights from the battle. At the end of the trail, a monument would be erected by officials of Châtel-Chehéry to York and the men who died during the fight. The purpose, Mastiano says, would be to honor all American soldiers who served in the Argonne.

Mastriano and O'Keefe have also created a website known as Sergeant York Discovery Expedition and have posted photographs and other information about their artifacts. Mastriano's entire report will also be posted to the website soon.

O'Keefe says the York story is a great witness to God's patience, providence, power, and protection. "I think it would be great for a new generation to discover the York story," he said. "It was amazing to see God work to strengthen our faith even as we searched to find evidence to support the testimony of faith of another. It is my privilege to honor this soldier and man of faith by finding the evidence to support his testimony and continue to share his message of faith, the good news."

"In the words of Sgt. York, "So you can see that God will be with you if you will only trust Him; and I say that He did save me. Now, He will save you if you will only trust Him"

The Sgt York Discovery Expedition website: http://www.sgtyorkdiscovery.com

Now, you can make the call.

[MRomanych]

By way of introduction, there are two competing groups who each claim to have found the exact local of Sergeant York’s exploits. One group is the Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE) based in Germany and the other group is the Sergeant York Project Team from Tennessee. Each group used different methodologies and arrived at a different location. At the moment, the SYDE seems to have the jump on the Sergeant York Project Team, having installed a memorial and historical trail documenting their findings in the Meuse-Argonne Forest. Such is the grist of controversy.

Please keep in mind that both groups have their own motivations.

The following piece was pulled from the Sergeant York Project Team webpage.
http://www.sergeantyorkproject.com/fight-for-the-right-site.htm

The Fight for the Right Site
by the Sergeant York Project Team

The Sergeant York Memorial is in place and was inaugurated earlier in October 2008. It was placed at the spot where the Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE) led by Ltc Mastriano say that York was involved in his fight on October 8, 1918.

The Sergeant York Project Team maintain their arguement that there has been a distortion of history in the claim by Mastriano. Sadly the case for arguement for both teams has not been tested by any recognized authority. The Sergeant York Project Team eagerly await such a test and are confident that their methods and evidence will withstand such close scrutiny.

The Sergeant York Project team (Dr. Tom Nolan) consisted of professionals in their field. Kids were not used to circumspectly scan the landscape for pieces of battlefield relics. The Project Team had clear objectives, using scientists who are recognised in their respective fields and using methodology designed for such explorations.

Clear cataloguing of artefacts was effected using state of the art technology to determine their exact position, not the haphazard search and recovery methods that we know were used by the other team.

Read on for a fuller picture……………

A Memorial in the Wrong Place

Earlier this month there was great celebration in Châtel-Chéhéry. On Saturday 4th October, led by the (S.Y.D.E. - Ltc Mastriano) a new memorial was commemorated on the side of a hill outside the village where they say Sergeant York fought. This is an impressive monument and in attendance were dignatories from France, the U.S. and Germany. Sunday 5th October was meant to inaugurate a bronze bust of Alvin C. York by ourselves, the Sergeant York Project. (Dr. Thomas Nolan) Sadly the bust had not arrived in time and this will be put in place later.

Why LTC Mastriano is wrong.

1. The S.Y.D.E. site is on a hill which was in the center of the 2nd Battalion attack

2. The true York site as discovered by the Sergeant York Project Team is in the ravine by the side of a creek.

3. The true York site was referred to by two officers in the division, Captain Danforth and Major Buxton. (Buxton went on to write the history of the 82nd Division.) Both officers independently annotated a map in 1929 for the Army College re-enactment. (This map is produced in Dr. Nolan's dissertation) The routes, albeit they differ slightly, are almost in the center of the Project Team artefact discoveries.

4. LTC Mastriano has chosen to ignore the American source documents and relied heavily upon German accounts which cannot be counted upon for accuracy.

5. LTC Mastriano's paper has many pages of bibliography, almost entirely German sources. He has no footnote references so it is impossible for the student of his work to link to any meaningful connection with his study.

6. LTC Masriano has never offered a plausible explanation regarding the 328th Infantry Company G Unit Collar Disk that was found by the Project Team at their location. This is compelling evidence that York's patrol was in that area. This he and others have chosen to ignore.

7. Also ignored are the Grave Registration Blanks that were discovered by Dr Nolan in the American Archives. They relate to the six of York's patrol that were killed on that morning and buried close by. The Blanks give co-ordinates of the burials. These have been annotated by Dr.Nolan onto a map and show the burials close to the site where the Project Team were working. (See Dr.Nolan's dissertation for a map on this feature) This has been ignored by LTC Mastriano.

8. Much emphasis has been placed upon the S.Y.D.E. discovery of .45 cases. It is patently obvious from the York Project exploration that many more American soldiers were using these weapons than was thought. No conclusive evidence can be drawn on this subject,

9. The S.Y.D.E. chose to ignore that they found evidence of German .77mm artillery batteries just a few yards behind the spot where they say York fought. Alvin York was never ever close to any artillery. Mastriano chose not to mention this in his report and as a result, the rest of his paper has to be treated with suspicion.

10. The Sergeant York Project Team will be able to demonstrate to any authority the professional and academic approach they used in their project. Their application to a strict code of methodology is apparent in Dr. Nolan's paper. This was a shining example of how Science, Archaeology and history can be combined in battlefield studies.

So where does this leave the York Project?

It is felt that this is an issue that should be decided upon within scholarly circles. The differences in locations as given by both teams are not vast in geographical circles but they are important from a military aspect. It is hoped that this still may take place.

Their research methodology was exciting and their findings compelling; based upon sound scientific principles, and using American historical documents that the other team chose to ignore. The results of their work and the paper that formed Dr. Nolan's dissertation paper is available on-line for all to see and from this the serious student may form his own opinion. (http://ww1history.suite101.com/article.cfm/90th_anniversary_of_sgt_alvin_york_battle_nears)

What do the York Project Team hope to achieve?

There has been an injustice committed in that the S.Y.D.E. led by Lt. Colonel Mastriano have many inaccuracies and blemishes in their findings. To let it lie as it currently stands is against all the ethics that are inherrent within the sciences of Geography and Archaeology and is a distortion of history. We do not expect an expensive memorial to be relocated, we only ask that our case and the SYDE paper is studied and reported on based upon its merits by a recognized authority. This is the fair and just way and is owed to historians, archaeologists, and geographers, both present and future and to those interested in important military matters.

[MRomanych]

As if there is not enough controversy surrounding Sgt York. Here is an interesting piece of information. It seems that a German machine gun captured by Sergeant York may be destroyed by the ATF. I have not found anything moiré recent than this 2007 news piece.

Library hopes to sell WWI gun to raise funds
The Army Times
By David Liscio
Apr 30, 2007 5:19:11
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/army_yorkgun_070429w/

A small Massachusetts town wants to auction a rare German machine gun believed to have been captured by legendary Army Sgt. Alvin C. York during World War I, hoping to use the money to fund its public library improvements, but the federal government says the unregistered automatic weapon can’t be sold.

Library trustees in Nahant, Mass., estimate the German-made Maxim machine gun could fetch as much as $200,000, considering its reputed relationship to the Great War’s most decorated American soldier. But agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms say the law specifically prohibits such transactions.

Meanwhile, the vintage weapon is under lock and key at the Nahant police station while U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney, a Massachusetts Democrat, and other members of Congress attempt to find a solution.

According to Nahant town officials and local accounts, resident Mayland Lewis was an Army lieutenant on the battlefield in the Argonne Forest of France on Oct. 8, 1918, when York led seven soldiers in a daring attack on a German machine gun nest, killing 25 and capturing 132 others. Lewis, assigned to the adjutant’s staff, was ordered to take notes on York’s bravery and the German surrender.

Many of the stunned Germans were ordered to stack their weapons near the adjutant’s headquarters. According to the family, Lewis plucked the deadly Maxim machine gun and a Mauser rifle from the pile and shipped them home as war souvenirs.

On Armistice Day, which celebrated the end of World War I, the Nahant Boy Scouts paraded the machine gun along the streets of the peninsula in a small red wagon, according to Lewis’ son, Mayland P. “Nippy” Lewis Jr. His Dec. 17, 2002, letter to Nahant historian Calantha Sears explains that his father was not an ardent motion picture fan, but eagerly attended a showing of the movie Warner Brothers made in 1941 entitled “Sergeant York,” starring Gary Cooper.

“We went to see it and the story came out,” the younger Lewis wrote.
More recently, Mayland Lewis’ granddaughter, Deborah Durnam Craig, upon learning of the bureaucratic stalemate, e-mailed the Lynn, Mass., newspaper to say the machine gun occupies “a very interesting part of my family history” and that she remembers her grandfather saying he knew Sgt. York.

York, who was born in Pall Mall, Tenn., received the Medal of Honor and other prestigious commendations, including the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre. Witnesses said the 30-year-old infantry sergeant charged the machine gun nest head-on after his platoon suffered heavy casualties. The water-cooled Maxim was a state-of-the-art killing machine, credited with cutting down more American soldiers than any other infantry weapon.

Daniel deStefano, the Nahant library director, said the Lewis family gave the machine gun to the town. A July 5, 1919, article in the Lynn (Mass.) Daily Evening Item newspaper noted that Lewis shipped the machine gun home after retrieving it on the battlefield.

Lewis presented the machine gun and rifle to Nahant Library Trustee Fred C. Wilson during a homecoming reception for returning servicemen. The weapon ended up in the library attic until about three years ago, when deStefano literally tripped over it.

“I reached down to move this heavy thing that I thought was a piece of pipe, never expecting to find a machine gun at the other end,” deStefano said. “That’s when we got interested in finding out more about what it might be worth because we are trying to raise money for a library expansion. We thought it might be better to sell the machine gun than ask the taxpayers for more money.”

John Welsh, a library trustee, said a bureaucratic tangle emerged. “It’s a machine gun and it’s not registered, so apparently we can’t sell it until we find a legal way to own it,” he said. “We’ve had estimates that it could be worth up to $200,000, presuming we can show its relationship to Sergeant York.”

ATF Special Agent Jim McNally in Boston stressed that the law is clear on such matters: The weapon cannot be sold but it can be donated to a public or private museum.

Library officials are still hopeful their case might prove an exception.
“If we can’t get it registered and sold ... the gun should not be destroyed,” deStefano said. “It should go to a historical museum that can keep it securely.”

“But we sure could use the money. This building ran out of space 60-70 years ago.”

[MRomanych]

The other side of the coin - The Sergeant York Discovery Expedition‘s (SYDE) side of the story.
From: http://www.sgtyorkdiscovery.com/SYDE_NEWS.php

People sometimes ask if any third party sources support our claim to finding the exact location where SGT. York earned the Medal of Honor. The answer is, YES, and here is what they have to say. Click on the letters below for larger views.

Left: The Center of Military History (CMH) is the final word on Army history and fully endorse SYDE's discovery as accurate. This endorsement includes CMH sponsorship of SYDE's work to preserve the SGT York discovery and artifacts. Dr. Clark is the director of CMH.

Center: MG Zabecki is one of the most senior US Army historians and is the US Army expert on World War One. He is extensively published on the Great War.

Right: A letter of endorsement from the French Military Mission to NATO, who reviewed the SYDE findings and concluded that they are 100% correct.
(en français)

[ArmyHistorian]

The claim by Michael Birdwell and Tom Nolan that they found the spot where York earned the Medal of Honor is 100% wrong. Their declaration is not supported by battlefield archeology, German archival data, military doctrine or terrain analysis and most importantly, the Germans that York fought / captured were never there. There is NO possible way that Alvin York earned the Medal of Honor in the location where they claim. It is impossible. No research in the German Archives in Stuttgart, Freiburg, Potsdam, Ulm or BavariaThe biggest obstacle that Birdwell and Nolan face is that they did not spend a single day in the German archives, where the most important York related documents are. They are missing at least 100 essential documents. Because of this, they went into the Argonne with only half of the story and ended up in the wrong valley, finding artifacts from a different battle, a battle that York, and the Germans he fought, did not participate in.

This claim is rife with numerous other problems and is not helped by the simple fact that the core of their team has no military experience. A trained military eye can see that their claim is not logical from a tactical point of view. The Germans that York captured were never there. The site could not be the spot for the simple reason that the Germans York captured - were NEVER there. The empirical/hard evidence confirms this - that York fought and captured soldiers from the German 125th and 120th Württemberg Regiments and the 210th Prussian. There is only one spot in the entire Argonne Forest where these three units overlapped – and it is actually 600 meters away from the Birdwell/ Nolan claim. The location where Birdwell asserts as the York spot is the flank of the German 122nd Regiment. York captured NO 122nd soldiers and he never fought there.

What Birdwell uncovered is a different fight altogether that transpired as the German right flank collapsed AS A RESULT of York's actions - several hours later. The picture does not add up.

In January 1919, just three after York performed his heroic deed, the 82nd Infantry Division conducted a formal investigation into the York story in order to see if he deserved the Medal of Honor. As part of the investigation, photographs were taken. The spot selected by Birdwell / Nolan does not look like the 1919 photos at all. Further evidence that they are in the wrong place.

Finding the right York spot. So, what about the York spot – where is it? A group of military officers, veterans, researchers, family members and battlefield archeologists, calling themselves The Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE), came together to solve this mystery. After years of painstaking research and nearly 40 days searching in the Argonne Forest near Châtel Chéhéry, France – the exact location where Alvin York fought off the determined attacks of the German Imperial Army was discovered with 100% certainty. The search began in the archives - over 700 hours researching every detail of the York story in the German and American archives. This proved crucial and put my group in the general area of where York earned the Medal of Honor. In fact – there is only one possible 100-meter area in the entire Argonne Forest where this event could have happened. It was in this area that we began nearly 1,000 man-hours of physical searching for evidence of York’s Medal of Honor. Each day of investigation uncovered a piece of the York story. The biggest find occurred on Saturday 21 October 2006, when nineteen of the twenty-one .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) cartridges fired by York were discovered. This was the final piece of the puzzle that was needed to designate the “York spot.” It was here that York fought off a German bayonet attack led by Lieutenant Fritz Endriss and forced the final surrender of the right flank of the 125th Württemberg Landwehr Regiment. The fact that York fired at least 21 Colt .45 ACPs is recorded in the History of the 82nd Division A.E.F., published in 1919, which states; “[York] fired… three complete clips from his automatic pistol.” These clips contained seven rounds each. The nineteen recovered .45 cartridges were spread over a ten-foot wide area and were between 2-4 inches deep in the Argonne earth. A few days later, we recovered the twentieth and twenty-first cartridges (#20 in front of the mayors of Châtel Chéhéry and Fléville).

The bottom line, the search for the York spot is over. Although finding the .45 finds was the “piece de résistance,” we also unearthed thousands of other pieces of evidence that tell the York story. These include American 30.06 shell casings, 250 German machine gun shell casings, 100 live German rifle rounds - most in five round clips, several Württemberg and Prussian buttons, 25 German equipment buttons / loops, pieces of German belts / web-gear and evidence of a German battalion HQ building. The evidence is overwhelming. The battlefield archeology and the German and American first hand sources confirm that York did what he was awarded the Medal of Honor for. This will silence the revisionists and perpetuate the York legacy for another generation. In the meantime, we are working closely with the local French officials and the American Battlefield Monuments Commission to create a historic trail to ensure that what the great Christian Patriot York did is not forgotten or subjected to unwarranted second-guessing in the future.

Finally - in order to pass the test - the York spot must have an affirmative on the following screening criteria - a NO to any of these means that the site is wrong.
*Does it agree with historical facts about German units involved and unit defense locations?
*Is it along the right flank of the German 125 and 120 Regiments?
*Does the terrain match photographs taken in 1919?
*Is it supported by battlefield archeology? *Is it close to the 1/120 regiment battlefront?
*Is it logical from a tactical military perspective?
*Does it agrees with written German and American testimony?
*Is it located where the machine guns are in the fight - engaging Americans in the valley?
*Is it on terrain that dramatically impacted the outcome of the battle (decisive terrain)?
*Does it agree with the battle progression/sequence as recorded by the 2nd Landwehr Division?
*Is it close to a trench (York's and Vollmer's testimony)?
*Is it near two roads that head east - out of the Argonne?
*Is it close to Vollmer's HQ?

Sadly for the Birdwell / Nolan team – they have a resounding NO on most of the above. However, what we found is an unambiguous/resounding yes to all of these. I am 100% confidant of this as there is little room for error when you measure our hard evidence. This is a slam-dunk.

In the end, the search for the York spot is not about Birdwell, or Mastriano. It is about the truth and honoring the legacy of Alvin York. The search for the historically accurate York spot ended in October.

Questions:

The 1919 82nd Infantry Division History states that York fired three complete clips from his Colt .45 for a total of 21 cartridges. Why didn’t you find the 21 cartridges, but Mastriano did?

Both the German eyewitnesses and the Germans mention a trench from which German Lieutenant Endriss led a bayonet attack against York. Where is this trench? What do you think about the trench near the location Mastriano found near the 21 Colt .45 cartridges?

After York captured the 132 German soldiers, the German center/right flank collapsed, the 2nd Landwehr Division’s commander, General Franke, ordered the 122 Landwehr Regiment forward to cover the retreat of the 2nd and 3rd battalion. How do you explain that the spot you claim, as York’s was where the 122nd fought and York captured NO 122nd soldiers?

In January 1919, the 82nd Infantry Division conducted an investigation of York’s actions. The photos that were taken of where York earned the Medal of Honor do not match your site. How do you explain this? How can you make a 100% claim of certainty when you have not visited the German archives in Potsdam, Stuttgart, Ulm, Munich or Freiburg when these are the only places where you can find vital York related documents (that has information on where the German units were)?

There is a problem with your claim in that it is not at the spot where the Germans that York fought/captured (the 120th, 125th, and 210th Regiments). Why do you think you are correct when the battlefield you searched is the location of the 122nd German Regiment (a regiment from which York captured NO German soldiers)? The majority of the prisoners that York captured came from the 120th, 125th and 210th regiment. The only place where these all served together is 600 meters away on the hill called Humserberg the center hill) from your claimed spot. How do you explain this? May of the artifacts that you are displaying are the fat French light Chauchat machine gun (called the sho-sho by the Americans) bullets. None of the 16 Americans with York on 8 October 1918 did not have this weapon.

Does your find actually disprove your supposition, especially as your York spot contained a lot of these bullets? :thumbup1:

[MRomanych]

Army Historian:

Well, you ask at lot of questions, but don't provide the answers...well, I guess they are implied. From what I can tell, you posted the same argument presented by Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE) in other forums. Unfortunately, the questions raised by SYDE have not been adequately addressed.

Conversely, the Sergeant York Project (Tennessee) Team has raised issues about the SYDE's method and findings. As far as I can tell, these have not been addressed either.

So here we have it, both team's approaches and methodologies have their merits and demerits. Each teams' findings are in conflict with the other. The real question is whether either team's findings are correct, and if so which team?

This controversy will not rest, and maybe then will still not be settled, until an independent and authoritative body examines both group’s findings. In the meantime, it sure makes for interesting reading!

Cheers, Marc

[MRomanych]

Will this article settle the controversy? Probably not, but it is the first serious attempt to reconcile the claims made by the two competing groups.

Continuing the Search for York
By Taylor V. Beattie
From Army History (Winter 2008)


Seven years since Army History published the article “In Search of York: Man, Myth & Legend,”8 which I wrote with Army Reserve Maj. (now Lt. Col.) Ronald Bowman, the search for the location of Alvin C. York’s famous firefight continues, as evidenced by the selected news headlines and excerpts in the adjoining column. I want to provide now an account of the controversy that has emerged between two competing groups, an explanation for their divergent perspectives, and my own evaluation of the developing evidence.

The Controversy

A lively debate has developed over the exact location of Sgt. Alvin York’s legendary firefight, as two separate research teams have entered the diminutive ravine west of the ancient village of Châtel-Chéhéry, France, carrying out their separate quests for York’s story. Each team walked into the ravine via the small farming road that separates Castle and Parrot Hills.9 (Castle Hill is also known as Hill 223.).The narrow road is well worn, having been used for centuries by the villagers to access agricultural fields or to hunt in the Argonne Forest that spills over into the ravine further west. These rival teams, each seeking answers to the mystery associated with York’s actions on 8 October 1918, entered the ravine at the same point and then migrated to opposite sides of the ravine, giving rise to the argument.

To be sure, after multiple trips to the area prior to June 1999, Ron Bowman and I were convinced that we had narrowed the site down to about a 20-meter swatch of the Argonne Forest. Unlike the two teams active today, we did not employ metal detectors in our search for the site. The use of metal detectors on the historic battlefields of France is strictly regulated and could result in the impoundment of your vehicle, a risk that Ron and I were not prepared to assume. In the end, we could not claim that we had uncovered the exact location of York’s actions. However, we were very sure that any soldier occupying our 20-meter area on the morning of 8 October 1918 would have been within the effective range of then-Corporal York’s 1911 .45-caliber automatic Colt pistol or the German machine guns raking the forest floor. Be that as it may, the location of York’s feat is now the center of a lively dispute.

In March 2006 the Sergeant York Project, an interdisciplinary team of researchers under the leadership of Middle Tennessee State University geographer Thomas Nolan and Tennessee Technological University historian Michael Birdwell, first announced the discovery of the site of the York firefight. Following a trip to York’s ravine the team had just completed, Nolan announced via press release that it had “used geographic information systems (GIS), GPS (global positioning systems), and historic maps and primary documents to uncover the actual location of York’s engagement.”10 The archaeological results of their trip, consisting of a mixed batch of U.S., German, and French shell casings including some U.S. .30/06 cartridges the team believed had been fired by York, were listed on their Sergeant York Project Web site.11

Seven months later, in October 2006, a wholly different outfit—the Sergeant York Discovery Expedition—announced a more impressive discovery related to the exact location of the York firefight. Led by Lt. Col. Douglas Mastriano, an Army intelligence officer then assigned to the NATO staff in Europe, the York Discovery Expedition includes Mastriano family members, other military officers, veterans, and battlefield archaeologists. This research team excavated four .45-caliber slugs and twenty-one .45-caliber shell casings it believed came from the Colt pistol York used to engage and halt a six-man German bayonet charge. The site referenced was approximately 600 meters north and slightly east of the area reported by Nolan.

Within weeks of the Mastriano group’s discovery of York’s expended cartridges, the Nolan-Birdwell team returned to the United States from a ten-day expedition to York’s ravine. The purpose of this expedition was to validate the group’s earlier claim with additional archaeological evidence. And the team did just that. Nolan and Birdwell returned to Tennessee with 1,400 artifacts collected in and around what they believe to be the location of York’s firefight (Map 1). The most exciting artifact was a nickel-size collar disk (uniform insignia) bearing the number 328 (York’s infantry regiment) and the letter G (York’s company). Nolan and Birdwell surmised that the collar disk came from one of the men in York’s patrol who had been killed or wounded in the firefight.

Contrasting Perspectives

So how did two competent, disciplined, and focused research teams end up on opposite sides of the ravine, each supported by compelling archaeological evidence? The reason rests with the preliminary research conducted by the respective teams prior to entering the ravine. For geographical reasons that will become apparent, each team focused the bulk of its archival research on one side of the blood argument that raged between the two embattled hills in October 1918. Based on the interpretation of the opposing views, the Mastriano expedition and the Nolan-Birdwell project ended up on opposite sides of the ravine and the debate. And this is where geography comes into play. It is important to understand that the Nolan-Birdwell project is based in the United States, specifically Tennessee, York’s home state, while the Mastriano expedition is based in Europe. As a result, the former has better access to archives holding U.S. military records and Alvin York’s personal papers, while the latter has better access to German military archives and York’s ravine in France.

The U.S.-based Nolan-Birdwell project conducted the preponderance of its historical research at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. During this research Nolan discovered a 1929 exchange of letters between reserve Col. G. Edward Buxton, who as a major had been York’s battalion commander, and Capt. Henry O. Swindler of the Army War College. Evidently, some eleven years following the firefight in the ravine, Captain Swindler had been tasked to help stage a reenactment of the famous event for a military exposition and carnival held at the U.S. Army War College in Washington, D.C., in October 1929 to benefit the Army Relief Society. None of those involved in the firefight (including York) could identify the exact spot where the events had occurred. Swindler contacted Colonel Buxton, as he had returned to the ravine in February 1919 with York and Brig. Gen. Julian R. Lindsey, York’s brigade commander, among others, to retrace York’s steps and determine whether York’s actions merited the award of the Medal of Honor. Included in the correspondence between Swindler and Buxton was a French map on which Buxton had drawn the route of the patrol and the site of the firefight. Buxton’s annotations led the Nolan-Birdwell team to focus on the corresponding section of the ravine.

Some 600 meters to the north of the position identified by the Nolan-Birdwell project, the Mastriano expedition planted its stake in the York spot based on detailed research related to the German side of the story. In our research Ron Bowman and I had been aware of the testimonies of German officers and men about the firefight with Sergeant York that had been collected in 1929 by the Reichsarchiv staff in Potsdam, Germany, but that was the extent of our research into the German side.12 The Mastriano expedition uncovered ex¬haustive documentation of the disposition of the German forces in the ravine on the morning of 8 October 1918.

The following is an excerpt from the Mastriano expedition report:

York took prisoners from the following four German units:
120. Württembergische Landwehr Regiment, 2. Würt¬tembergische Landwehr Division
125. Württembergische Landwehr Regiment, 2. Würt¬tembergische Landwehr Division
210. Prussian Reserve Regi¬ment, 45th Prussian Reserve Division.
7. Bayern Mineur Kompanie

The location where York earned the Medal of Honor must be in an area that prisoners can be taken from each of the above units. In particular, the specific location must be along the 120th and 125th regimental borders. It was here that the 120th’s [1st Battalion commander, First Lt.] Vollmer received the 210th Prussian soldiers and where he and the 210th were captured. It was also here that the 125th’s flanking machine guns wheeled about to engage the 17 Americans.

The German archives reveal that between 1914 and 1918, there is only one location in the entire Argonne where these units served together.13

So given the disposition of German forces on the morning of 8 October 1918, the Mastriano expedition was convinced that there was only one location in the ravine where the firefight could have occurred. Subsequently, the team focused its search efforts on that location (Map 2). Without question, the Mastriano expedition had a decided advantage, as its relative proximity to Châtel-Chéhéry permitted frequent trips to the ravine to conduct on-the-ground research.

Evaluation

It is clear that both research teams uncovered compelling mili¬tary artifacts that appear to sup¬port the respective locations. How could that happen? Ron Bowman and I have been all over that ra-vine (sans metal detector), and the bottom line is this. You can pick a spot anywhere within that patch of the Argonne Forest and make a case for York’s presence based solely on the military artifacts scattered about. A large, fairly desperate battle took place in that ravine throughout the day on 8 October 1918. The Germans were caught off guard by an Ameri¬can attack into their flank, forcing them to reposition their defenses on the fly. Subsequently, thousands of rounds were expelled, and equipment was dropped in the confusion. There are mili¬tary artifacts strewn throughout the ravine. Some lay where they fell eighty-eight years ago; others have been displaced by forestation, agriculture, and relic hunters that have been combing the area for years. The key to military archaeology lies in the analysis of the relative placement of the arti-facts at the site and their association with events that are believed to have occurred there. Disparate odds and ends of military gear and ordinance that can be associated with a particular unit or action are artifacts and, once analyzed in context, can become potential pieces of the puzzle. Those bits and pieces that cannot be associated to the York story constitute little more than battlefield relics.

As for the specific artifacts found in the two locations, the 328th’s Company G collar disk discovered by the Nolan-Birdwell project is an intriguing find, but is it conclusive? Mastriano would mitigate the same with his contention that the 120th Würt¬tembergische Landwehr Regiment records indicate that the battle in the area associated with Nolan’s finds occurred around 1400 on 8 October. This battle was joined as the German right flank fell back under the orders of cavalry Capt. Karl von Sick. In support of the withdrawal, the German division commander, General der Artille-rie Anton Franke, ordered his cavalry squadron to fill the gap. As the two battalions broke contact, the German covering forces employed reverse slope defense on the ridgelines, including the area where the Nolan-Birdwell project recovered the G collar device.14 This raises a significant question: Was Company G, 328th Infantry, involved in this battle?

And what about the .45-caliber bullets and cartridges found in both sites? The 1911 .45 Colt pistol was a popular weapon; it was semi-automatic and was a very useful weapon in close quarters. Consequently, those who could get their hands on one would have used it that day, spewing slugs and shell casings throughout the ravine wherever Germans and Americans came in contact. Again, the key here is to associate the type and placement of the artifacts with both American and German historical accounts.

So which research team is in the correct location in York’s ravine and therefore on the right side of the argument? The Mastriano expedition report is backstopped by superb German archival research and is in keeping with the military situation of the day. In other words, it is supportable from a military standpoint. The conclusions of the expedition report combine documented military history, German unit dispositions, tactical analysis, terrain analysis, and battlefield archaeology to pinpoint key locations associated with Sergeant York’s actions within the ravine. Mastriano has presented a riveting and well-documented argument in a report complete with maps and pictures of the terrain and associated artifacts. In addition, his Sergeant York Discovery Expedition has established a Web site where all of the evidence it has gathered may be viewed.15

Nolan, meanwhile, issued in May 2007 a comprehensive report reflecting a tremendous amount of disciplined research, analysis, and purposeful direction. None of this should be a surprise, as the report constitutes the author’s doctoral dissertation. Since completing this document, Nolan has defended it before a graduate school committee and has received his doctorate from Texas State University at San Marcos, so Nolan’s report has withstood a level of academic scrutiny. The overall premise of Nolan’s report is as follows:

Geographic Information Science (GIS) and technology can be used to integrate history and archaeology for synthesis and interpretation. This study applies Geographic Information Science and technology to reconstructing the events related to a patrol from G Company, 2nd Battalion, 328th Infantry Regiment of the American Expeditionary Forces on October 8, 1918, outside the village of Châtel Chéhéry, France that resulted in the award of the Medal of Honor to Alvin C. York. Evidence from documentary records, historic maps, and artifacts from a metal detec¬tor survey were incorporated in a spatial database. Spatial analysis of the database using GIS pro¬vided a more complete picture of events than either history or archaeology individually.16

I like the methodology and associated research employed by the Nolan-Birdwell project. The effort has been held within strict protocols and enjoys the oversight and approval of local French government archaeologists. The incorporation of GIS/GPS technology certainly shows merit in the ability to translate known locations from historical battlefield maps to positions on the ground. This is exciting material for the world of battlefield archaeology. I remain skeptical, however, of the location Nolan selected based on maps annotated by Colonel Buxton eleven years after the event. Reserve Maj. E. C. B. Danforth Jr., who as a captain had been York’s Company G commander, received a similar request from Captain Swindler and included this caveat in his reply:

My knowledge of the general situation is first hand and, I believe, accurate. The particulars of the actual fight of Sergeant York is, of course, not based on my own observation but has been gained by investigations which I made on the ground shortly after the armistice and from a subsequent study in which I have been interested in making during the last year or two. I am afraid that no one, not even York himself, can give you a very accurate lay-out of the fight but my sketch contains what I believe to have been the situation.17

Some years ago I obtained copies of Colonel Buxton’s and Major Danforth’s letters and associated strip maps and, after visiting that spot in the ravine in 2001, concluded that the location was not supportable from a military standpoint. In short, Colonel Buxton’s position placed the Germans facing up a steep slope toward the advancing 28th Division. (The position is marked in the 28th vice the 82d Division sector.) This position would have severely restricted the fields of fire for the German machine guns engaging any targets to the south or east, the direction from which the Americans were approaching. At best, this location could have been used as an interim firing position as the Germans fell back. It would have better served as a site from which the advancing Americans could have engaged fleeing Germans.

In penning this update, I am inclined, as is Ron Bowman, to support Mastriano’s location because it agrees with and appears to confirm the position that we had selected seven years ago. And, while we are somewhat biased in this debate, we fully accept that a good deal of investigative work is yet to be done before historical markers are planted on one side of the ravine or the other. We are convinced that the ravine still holds at least one uncovered archaeological indicator that could provide a persuasive edge to the argument over location. While Sergeant York gained the Medal of Honor for his actions in the ravine that foggy morning of 8 October 1918, he also lost his best Army buddy, Cpl. Murray Savage. When the initial burst of German machine-gun fire poured down from the hillside, Corporal Savage, one of the three squad leaders sent around to silence those guns, was killed outright; according to an archival record, he “was buried where he fell.” His remains were moved to the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery in May 1921, leaving the scar of a man-sized hole chunked out of the earth on one side of the ravine. Ron Bowman and I found such a scar on the northern side of the ravine, and perhaps the sweep of an authorized metal detector could reveal a metal button, collar disk, rank or identification tag, or some other piece of personal gear that would provide convincing evidence about the origins of that hole. Such an artifact could link the scar in the ravine to the temporary grave of Corporal Savage, who apparently was buried within feet of where he had been shot during a legendary firefight that lives on in U.S. military lore.18 The confirmation or denial of what we suspect was the genesis of that unhealed gash hidden in the ravine behind the ancient village of Châtel-Chéhéry could provide a critical piece of the puzzle that both teams seek to solve.

Notes
1. News Release, Middle Ten¬nessee State University, “Precise Locale of WW I Hero Alvin York’s One-Man Battle Discovered,” 15 Mar 2006, http://www.newswise .com/ articles/views/518792.

2. Craig S. Smith, “Revisiting Sgt. York and a Time When Heroes Stood Tall,” New York Times, 20 Jun 2006, http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30D15FB35550C738EDDAF0894DE404482.

3. Nancy Montgomery, “Army officer says site of Sgt. York’s WW I exploits has been found,” Stars and Stripes, European ed., 21 Oct 2006, http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39951&archive=true.

4. Jenny Barchfield, The Associated Press, “France ‘York Spot’ May Have Been Located,” 26 Oct 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102601314.html.

5. News Release, Middle Tennessee State University, “Tennessee Researchers Utilize Scientific Detection, Historic Evidence To Uncover Sgt. York’s World War I Battle Site,” 8 Dec 2006, http://www.mtsu.edu/~proffice/audio/2006/Dec08/york_newsconf _dec8_06.htm.

6. News Release, Tennessee Tech University, “Research team from TTU, MTSU discover conclusive evidence of Sgt. York site in France,” 15 Dec 2006, http://www.tntech.edu/techtimes/2006/06_12/12_15/YorkEvidence.html.

7. Steven L. Warren, “Army Officer: Sgt. York Battle Site Located,” 25 Mar 2007, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/100571 .aspx.

8. See Army History, Summer–Fall 2000 (No. 50), pp. 1–14.

9. As Dr. Lucien Houllemare of Châtel-Chéhéry explained to the author, the hill directly south of Castle Hill is called Parrot Hill because local men gather on top of it and parrot, or repeat, the gossip they have heard from their wives. However, the hill is identified as Hohenborn Hill on a map in F. W. Merten, trans., “Testimony of German Officers and Men annt Sergeant York: A Translation of ‘Die Entstehung von Kriegslegenden: Feststellungen über die angebliche Heldentat des amerikanischen Sergeanten York am 8.10.18 (The Origin of War Legends: An Investigation of the Alleged Feat of Sgt York, October 8, 1918),” 1936, p. 27, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pa., and copy in file 4658, box 40, Entry 310C, Records (“Thomas File”) of the Historical Section, Army War College, Record Group (RG) 165, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, National Archives, College Park, Md.

10. News Release, Middle Tennessee State University, “Precise Locale Discovered,” 15 Mar 2006.

11. The artifacts retrieved in March 2006 were listed on http://www.sergeantyorkproject.com, but the data is no longer posted.

12. Merten, trans., “Testimony of German Officers and Men.”

13. Douglas Mastriano and Kory O’Keefe, January 2007, sub: Report on the activities of the Sergeant York Discovery Expedition (SYDE) in the discovery and verification of key locations where Sgt. Alvin C. York’s combat actions on 8 October 1918 earned the Medal of Honor, http://www.sgtyorkdiscovery.com/uploads/The_Sergeant_York_Discovery_Expedition_14_Jan_WEB2 .pdf

14. Msg, Lt Col Douglas Mastriano to Taylor V. Beattie, 16 May 2007, in author’s files.

15. The Web site www .sgtyorkdiscovery.com contains a link to the team’s January 2007 report.

16. Thomas J. Nolan, “Battle¬field Landscapes: Geographic In¬formation Science as a Method of Integrating History and Archaeol¬ogy for Battlefield Interpretation” (Ph.D. diss., Texas State Univer¬sity–San Marcos, 2007), pp. x–xi.

17. Ltr, E. C. B. Danforth Jr. to Capt Henry O. Swindler, 5 Aug 1929, copy in author’s files. Danforth’s annotations to the map Swindler provided place York’s firefight on the same side of the ravine that Buxton had identified.

18. Photo Narrative (quoted words), Photo #49192, Grave of Corp. Murrau [sic] Savage, 7 Feb 1919, World War I Photos, Box 370, RG 111, Records of the Office of the Signal Corps, National Archives, College Park, Md.; Report of Disinterment and Reburial, 25 May 1921, and Identification Opinion, E. Kensett Vail, 9 Jul 1921, both in Murray L. Savage file, Box 4297, Entry 1942, Burial files, RG 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives, College Park, Md.

Lt. Col. Taylor V. Beattie (Retired) served as a Regular Army special forces officer in Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia; in Operation Assured Response in Liberia; and in assignments in Panama, Germany, Turkey, and Italy. He retired from the military in June 2005 and is currently employed by the Camber Corporation as a business development manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in education from the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas. His article “Corporal Freddie Stowers: An Appointment with Eternity on Hill 188” appeared in the Winter 2003 issue of Army History.

Photos from the article:
- Graves of four U.S. soldiers killed during the firefight that brought renown to York, February 1919
- Sergeant York stands at the site of his heroic deeds, February 1919
- Former Sgt. Bernard Early, right, who had led York’s patrol and had been severely wounded in the firefight, receives the Distinguished Service Cross from Assistant Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley at Washington Barracks, D.C., during ceremonies that included a reenactment of the engagement, October 1929

[MRomanych]

Now then, where is Sgt York's pistol?

York's legacy comes to East Tennessee
German machine gun captured by state's WWI hero now at Museum of Appalachia
Knoxville News Sentinel Co
By Fred Brown
January 17, 2010

Of the 2 million American soldiers who served in France during World War I, one name became synonymous with the doughboy war, an authentic all-American, sea-to-shining-sea hero: Alvin Cullum York.

York is easily the most famous soldier of World War I and perhaps the greatest American combat hero of all time.

Now, a part of the battlefield action that made York an international legend has come to the land of his beginning.

A renowned German machine gun that York captured in the closing days of the war in France is on permanent loan to the Museum of Appalachia in Norris. It will be on display for the first time Jan. 24 at the Tennessee Theatre downtown in a special exhibition.

It took nearly two years of working through federal red tape to get the German Maxim M1908/15 light machine gun to Norris from the Nahant, Mass., Public Library, which has possessed the weapon for the past 92 years.

Norris police took possession of the famous weapon, and Tim Hester, Norris city manager, signed it over to the museum in a simple agreement between the museum and the town of Norris.

An undisclosed amount of money was donated by the Museum of Appalachia to the Nahant Public Library for the gun. Museum authorities don't want to speculate about its worth.

From Tennessee farm boy to war hero

York was born at Pall Mall, Tenn., deep in the "Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf River" on Dec. 13, 1887. The third of 11 children, he grew up a poor farm boy in a rural region.

Despite his religious beliefs and his desire to be a conscientious objector, York was drafted and sent to the 82nd Division. Later he was assigned to the division's Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment.

The 328th was part of the American Expeditionary Force's I Corps during the Meuse- Argonne Offensive, one of five major battles that the Allies called the "Grand Offensive," fought from about Sept. 26 through Nov. 11, 1918.

It was during the offensive that York pulled off one of the great feats of any combat soldier of any time. He single-handedly annihilated a German machine gun battalion on Oct. 8, 1918, killing 25 German soldiers and capturing 132 enemy soldiers. He seized more than 30 machine guns, which had been killing Americans with extreme accuracy and ferocity.

The M1908/15 Maxim light machine gun was one of the German weapons York confiscated in the Argonne Forest battle, making it a highly significant artifact and a priceless war piece.

After he marched his prisoners back to American lines, York ordered the Germans to toss the gun into a pile along with other arms.

Mayland Lewis of Nahant, Mass., a small island north of Boston and south of Salem, was an Army lieutenant assigned to the adjutant's staff. He took notes for the Army on York's bravery and the German surrender.

After noting York's exploits, Lewis plucked the machine gun from the pile and sent it to his folks in Nahant as a war memento of York's actions. In World War I, there were no restrictions against that sort of thing.

On Armistice Day in 1919, which celebrated the end of World War I, the Nahant Boy Scouts paraded the machine gun along the streets of the peninsula in a small red wagon, according to the Lewis family.

The only other time the machine gun made a parade performance was this past Veterans Day Parade in Nahant.

Up in the attic

Lewis gave the gun to the Nahant Public Library, which promptly retired it to the attic. There it remained until 2003, when Dan deStefano, library director, stumbled over it. He pulled it from the debris, believing the gun barrel to be some sort of pipe.

Library officials thought at first they might sell the machine gun. Then they discovered it was an unregistered automatic weapon. Federal law prevented the library from either owning or selling the machine gun legally.

The Nahant Police Department "arrested" the machine gun and locked it away. Nahant Library Trustee John Welsh tried to find a way to keep the one-of-a-kind weapon but discovered that he could only give it to a historic museum that receives federal funding, such as the Museum of Appalachia.

"It is the last surviving weapon captured by York," Welsh said. "So it is historically significant. And if we can't have it, then I think it is where it belongs."

John Rice Irwin, Museum of Appalachia founder, learned of the machine gun through a friend who had read about it. He enlisted museum board of trustees member Mike Evans, founding partner of The Evans Group, a national sales company representing leading manufacturers in the shooting, hunting, outdoor and law enforcement markets. Evans in turn enlisted the help of a friend, retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent Bob Bilbo.

Bilbo worked through almost 30 hours of federal weapons paperwork so that the museum could legally acquire it, a process that took the museum about two years to complete.

"This thing was like a secret weapon. We didn't have anything like it," said Evans, who worked with Welsh in Nahant to make it possible for the museum to receive the weapon. In the end, the machine gun was simply mailed through the United States Postal Service to the Norris Public Safety Department from the Nahant Police Department.

The water-cooled Maxim, or Maschinengewehr 08 (the year it was adopted by Germany), could spit out 400 7.9 mm rounds per minute and was accurate to a range of almost 4,000 yards.

Knoxville showing

The gun will be displayed 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, at the Tennessee Theatre during a special VIP reception.

Former U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. will welcome special guests, and WBIR, Channel 10's John Becker will serve as master of ceremonies. For ticket information, call the museum at 865-494-7680 or visit www.museumofappalachia.org.

Ticket proceeds will go toward safely securing the weapon. Later it will become the centerpiece in an extensive York exhibit.

For his actions in the Argonne Forest, York received the Distinguished Service Cross from the U.S., France's Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor, Italy's Croce di Guerra and the War Medal from Montenegro.

Then, after an Army investigation of the events on Oct. 8, 1918, Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, American Expedition Forces commander, upgraded the Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor.

On the day York received the Medal of Honor, Pershing called him the "greatest civilian soldier of the war."

Photos:
- Founder John Rice Irwin poses with a German machine gun belonging to WWI hero Alvin York at the Museum of Appalachia Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010.
- Museum of Appalachia board of directors chairman Buddy Scott, attorney Billy Stokes, and City of Norris manager Tim Hestor pose with a German machine gun belonging to WWI hero Alvin York at the museum Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010.