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Sergeant Alvin York
This month the virtue we are discussing is humility. This Friday is also Veteran’s Day. On this day we honor those who have served in the military, and especially those who fought to defend our country. I would like to tell you now about a man who is both a war hero and a hero of humility. His name is Sergeant Alvin York.
This month the virtue we are discussing is humility. This Friday is also Veteran’s Day. On this day we honor those who have served in the military, and especially those who fought to defend our country. I would like to tell you now about a man who is both a war hero and a hero of humility. His name is Sergeant Alvin York.
Alvin York was born in Tennessee in 1887, in a two-room log cabin. He was the third of eleven children. Can you imagine having ten siblings sleeping in the same room as you? Alvin and his brothers only went to school long enough to learn to read. They had to leave school to help their father provide food for the family by farming and hunting.
When he was a young man, Alvin’s father died. His two older brothers had married and moved away, so he was responsible for providing for his mother and eight other siblings. He worked as a railroad construction worker and logger to keep them all fed. Then, in 1917, the United States entered the First World War, and Alvin was called into service and sent over to fight in France.
On October 18, 1918, Alvin, now a Sergeant, was given orders to lead a small company of men up a hill in the forests in France. But when Sergeant York’s company advanced, a well-camouflaged unit of German soldiers began pouring machine gun fire down upon them. What could he do? Most men would have retreated. But with only a few men, Sergeant York bravely advanced, crawling along the ground. He then, single-handedly, shot 28 enemy soldiers, disabled 35 machine guns, and captured 132 prisoners. Many think it was the most impressive feat by an American soldier in all of World War I.
York attributed his bravery and heroic actions to God. When he received the Medal of Honor in 1919, he told General Lindsey, "A higher power than man guided and watched over me and told me what to do." After the war, York was briefly celebrated as a hero, but for the most part his name was and continues to be mostly unknown. York humbly refused to profit from his fame even though he received many lucrative offers; he turned down huge sums of money offered for appearances, product endorsements, newspaper articles, and movie rights to his life story. He chose, instead, to return to life as a simple farmer, working hard and holding onto his integrity.
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