Sgt. York

On December 13th, 1887, in a one room cabin Alvin Cullum York was born, the third of eleven children.  Alvin York and his family lived in Fentress County, which was located in the Cumberland Mountains of Northern Tennessee.

When Alvin was 27 years old, he led an obnoxious life, full of brawling and drunkenness.  He turned away from that lifestyle, however, on January 1st, 1915, when he attended a church service conducted by Reverend H.H, Russel.  York felt as if he had been hit by a bolt of lightning during that sermon, and he was moved to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  York then got off the immoral wide path he was on and began to walk the narrow road.  After some time, Alvin York was drafted into the military, which he registered for with an objecting conscience.  After coming home from basic training, however, Alvin struggled with his thought and conviction about going to war.  Finally, he decided that it was God's will that he go. On October 8th, 1918, Alvin York (single-handedly) captured 132 German soldiers, forced a German commander to order a battalion of 35 Machine Guns to surrender,  and only killing 25 German Soldiers in the process.  When York was asked how he did it, he simply replied:

"Sir, it is not man power. A higher power than man power guidedand watched over me and told me what to do." 

Hollywood made his actions into a film in 1941, titled Sargent York.  The real Alvin York lived a simple life after the war. He turned down may offers that would have easily made him $500,000 dollars.  He became a blacksmith, and used the royalties he had earned from the film to found a high school in Jamestown, Tennessee.

Quote from Alvin York: “There can be no doubt in the world of the fact of the divine power being in that. No other power under heaven could bring a man out of a place like that. Men were killed on both sides of me; and I was the biggest and the most exposed of all. Over thirty machine guns were maintaining rapid fire at me, point-blank from a range of about twenty-five yards. When you have God behind you, you can come out on top every time.” 

Sources:  http://www.sgtyorkdiscovery.com/The_York_Story.php
                http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3471
Image:    http://mentalfloss.com/article/22768/sergeant-alvin-york