On October 8, 1918, Alvin C. York won the Medal of Honor, becoming the most decorated American soldier of World War I. York was an expert shot with a pistol and a rifle. He learned to shoot growing up in the mountains around Pall Mall Tennessee near Jamestown. He took out 32 German machine gun nests and killed 28 enemy soldiers. In addition, York single handedly captured 132 German POW's. This action was part of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The war would last another month, ending on November 11, 1918. York was born on December 3, 1887 and died on September 2, 1964 at the VA Hospital in Nashville when I was 14. My mother-in-law Margaret Traughber Phillips was born on October 8, 1918. Her mother, Grace Traughber Brown told me that she was 16 when she delivered Margaret. Nashville's General Hospital was so crowded with flu patients that day that she delivered in the hallway. Five patients died around her from the flu that day. The Spanish flu was raging across Europe and the United States. Some estimates say that one third of the worlds population was wiped out by the Spanish flu pandemic
One of my favorite movies of all time is Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper. The movie has many historical inaccuracies. The battle scenes are accurate and regardless of the inaccuracies the movie captures the essence of the man. York was a true Christian in every sense of the word. He turned down the equivalent of one million dollars in today's currency for commercial endorsements. York didn't want to exploit his fame. In his mind it was blood money. His conscience told him that killing was wrong but he felt he had to kill in order to save the lives of his men. One tactic that York used to kill Germans was the same tactic he used to kill a flock of wild turkeys. He would shoot the last turkey in the flock and work his way forward. This tactic was designed not to scare the turkeys in front so they wouldn't scatter or run off. Enabling him to shoot the whole bunch. They were unaware that they were being picked off one at a time, rear to front. This was depicted in the movie. Besides his bolt action Springfield rifle, York also used a 1911 model 45 caliber pistol. In the movie Gary Cooper used a German Luger because they couldn't fire blanks in a .45.
My grandmothers family, the Frogges, were from the Jamestown and Pall Mall Tennessee area. Many of York's closest friends were Frogge's and some of his worst enemies were Frogges. There is a Frogge Mountain near York's home and the Frogge's are buried near York in the same cemetery. Before York was converted to Christianity he had a reputation as a hard drinker and hell raiser. No doubt this is how he came to know many of the Frogge's. The second picture above is of Frogge mountain that can be seen from the York home. It was named after my great great great great grandfather Arthur Robinson Frogge. The first settler in the Valley of the Three Forks of the Wolf River was Conrad, or Coonrad Pile, the great, great, grandfather of Alvin York. The 2nd settler after Coonrad was Arthur, who became a friend of Coonrad, and was a combat veteran of the War of 1812. Arthur fought in the battle of the Thames against the famous Shawnee Indian chief Tecumseh.
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