PALL MALL, Tenn. — One of the biggest heroes of World War I was a pacifist who asked to become a conscientious objector.
Thursday marks the 100th anniversary — April 6, 1917 — of the day the United States joined its allies to fight in the war to end all wars. Two months later, Alvin York of Pall Mall on Tennessee`s Cumberland Plateau registered for the draft.
The National Archives kept York`s draft registration form. The 12th line on the form asked: "Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds?)"
The 29-year-old, a devoted churchgoer, responded: "Yes. Don`t want to fight."
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Five months later, he was drafted and denied exemption as a conscientious objector though in his own diary recorded at the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation in Pall Mall, York wrote he refused to sign several documents that would release him from military service.
York began his training at Camp Gordon in Chamblee, Ga., and went on to serve in the 82nd Infantry Division`s 328th Infantry Regiment.
In his diaries he wrote that his company commander, Capt. Edward Courtney Bullock Danforth, and his battalion commander, Maj. Gonzalo "George" Edward Buxton, persuaded him to fight citing several Biblical passages about morality in war.
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He served with his unit in the St. Mihiel offensive in northeastern France in September 1918. The attack weakened German forces in northern France and set the stage for attacks in the Argonne Forest and eventually Chatel-Chéhéry, where York, then a corporal, earned his claim to fame.
On Oct. 8, 1918, his battalion moved to capture German positions near a railway. York`s sergeant ordered him, along with three other non-commissioned officers and 13 privates, to infiltrate the German lines and take out their machine guns.
They moved behind the Germans and overran their headquarters, capturing a group who were planning to attack American troops. Machine-gun fire broke out as the American soldiers processed their new prisoners, killing six and wounding three.
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York took charge of the remaining seven soldiers to counter-attack, according to his diary.
York ran out of rifle ammunition just as six German soldiers charged him with fixed bayonets, so he switched to his sidearm, an M1911 pistol, and shot each of them before they could reach him.
"Armed with his rifle and pistol, his courage and skill, one Tennessean silenced a German battalion of 35 machine guns, killed 25 enemy soldiers and captured 132," reads a monument to York here that memorializes his heroism with a bronze plaque.
He was subsequently promoted to sergeant and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The honor was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor, the highest and most prestigious personal American military decoration.
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He received more than 50 decorations for his service in Chatel-Chéhéry, including three from France, one from Italy and one from Montenegro.
After leaving the service, York returned to celebrations in Tennessee and soon married Gracie Loretta Williams in a ceremony performed by the governor at the time, Albert Roberts.
Beginning in the 1920s, the Knoxville News Sentinel depicted the quieter life York that chose when he came back home, about 100 miles northeast of Nashville and 70 miles northwest of Knoxville. Today, Pall Mall has about 800 residents.
He refused most offers for appearances and the use of his image in advertisements but did join several charities and civic causes, such as campaigning for a road to be built in his hometown, now called the Alvin C. York Highway.
The Nashville Rotary Club gave York a farm to live and work on though it caused him a great deal of financial hardship later in life when he could not afford the payments and taxes to keep it up.
He already had formed the Alvin C. York Foundation to increase education opportunities in rural Tennessee by providing a new vocational school called the York Agricultural Institute. However, the Great Depression took its toll on the school`s financing, and York mortgaged his farm to make up the difference.
The Rotary Club and people across the USA caught wind of his troubles and presented a $25,000 check to the IRS on York`s behalf.
York eventually left the agricultural institute but continued to donate when he started working as a project superintendent for President Franklin Roosevelt`s Civilian Conservation Corps.
During World War II, he reportedly attempted to re-enlist in the Army but was denied because of his age and declining health. Instead, he found ways to support the war effort by participating in bond drives and visiting training camps to meet and cheer on American troops.
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York died on Sept. 2, 1964, at age 76 after battling several illnesses that eventually left him in a coma. He is buried in here, in the town he loved. His wife, Gracie, died 20 years later on Sept. 27, 1984.
The two had eight children, several named named after figures from American history — including Samuel Houston York; Betsy Ross York Lowery; and Woodrow Wilson York, who went on to join the military like his father. Thomas Jefferson York became a Fentress County constable and died in the line of duty in 1972.
Their daughter, Mary Alice York Franklin, was named after both her grandmothers, and one of their sons, Alvin Cullum York Jr., was named after his father.
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George Edward Buxton York, named after Alvin York`s battalion commander during WWI, followed his father`s devout faith and became a clergyman in Nashville.
York`s legacy lives on in other ways in East Tennessee.
His beloved farm is a state historic site, and the Alvin C. York Institute is still a functioning school today. During his time at the Civilian Conservation Corps, he oversaw the creation of Cumberland Mountain State Park`s Byrd Lake.
In Nashville, a statue of him stands on the state Capitol lawn, and a national guard armory and veterans hospital bear his name in tribute to his military service.
Follow the Knoxville News Sentinel on Twitter: @knoxnews
Take a walk through Alvin York`s life
A look at some historic Knoxville News Sentinel stories:
► 1957: York hopes tax claims will just fade away
► 1959:War machine needs foot soldiers
► 1964:Sgt. Alvin York, war hero, dies
► 1983:Sgt. York`s widow backs Reagan action
► 1987: Sergeant York still a symbol of heroism
► 1987:Sgt. Alvin York honored in French village
► 1988:Alvin York: Photo stolen but war hero remembered
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