Episode notes
(Previously Aired on 3/23/2021) We talk to James Carl Nelson, author of "The York Patrol - The Real Story of Alvin York and the Unsung Heroes Who Made Him World War I's Most Famous Soldier."
York grew up in the backwoods of Tennessee. After being a hell-raiser in his teens, he found his way to a fundamentalist Christian church. When drafted in World War I, he struggled to take arms with the commandment "Thou Shall Not Kill." He did his duty and found himself in a bloody offensive in the Argonne Forest in October 1918. His platoon leadership was decimated, and he found himself in charge. They captured roughly 130 Germans after a harrowing firefight.
This is a story of the other men and what Sgt. Alvin York went through for the rest of his life. He became the poster boy of WWI, with books and movies were made of his efforts. Gary Coop ...
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