After Alvin York was drafted, he was assigned to go to Camp Gordon, Georgia. Going to Georgia was unusual for Alvin because he had never gone fifty miles from his home back in Pall Mall.
"Camp Gordon: I was placed in the 21st training battalion, and there I was called out the first morning of my army life to police up in the yard all the old cigarette butts,and I thought that was pretty hard, as I didn't smoke. But I did it just the same. November 17, 1917" - York "Camp Gordon: So there they put me by some Greeks and Italians to sleep.I couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand me, and I was the homesickest boy you have ever seen. Ho ho. February 1918" - York |
"Camp Gordon: Well, they gave me a gun, and oh my, that old gun was just full of grease and I had to clean that old gun for inspection. So I had a hard time to get that old gun clean, and oh, those were trying hours for a boy like me, trying to live for God and do His blessed will. So when I got this gun, I began to drill with the gun, and we had to hike once a week. So I have seen many boys fall out of the hikes. We would have to take long hikes with all our stuff on our back and carry that old gun. Ho ho. And we would have to go out before daylight and have sham battles. So I began to want a pass to go home. That first Army rifle they issued me was all full of grease. Of course I didn't like that. The rifles we used in the mountains were always kept clean. They were muzzle-loading rifles, cap and ball. They make their own guns there in the mountains. They are the most accurate guns in the world, up to 100 or 150 yards. I would rather have had a clean army rifle than a muzzle loader for what we were going to use them for, on account of the repeating shots, but they are not any more accurate than the muzzle-loading rifles. The Greeks and Italians came out on the shooting range and the boys from the big cities. They hadn't been used to handling guns. And sometimes at 100 yards they would not only miss the targets, they would even miss the hills on which the targets were placed. March 1918" - York
Two of York's commanders were Major Buxton and Captain Danforth. He had great respect for both of these men.
"Our battalion commander was Major George Edward Buxton, Jr., from Providence, R.I. He was one of the finest men I ever met. He was one of the best soldiers I ever knowed." - York |
"Captain E.C.B. Danforth, Jr., was my company commander. He come from Augusta, and was a Georgia 'Cracker.' He was tall and tough jes like a hickory pole. He was the fightinest man, too, and when he was in action our boys used to say he was that hard that the bullets used to bounce off'n him." - York |
"The Major and the Captain together were as good a combination as a pair of Bed Bones when you have them out after the foxes. They ran together . If ever I have to go to war agin I'm a-telling you I wouldn't ask for anything more than to have them two leading me. Whereever they go I am willing to follow." - York
Even though Alvin was in Boot Camp, he had still not come to terms with the idea of killing another human being. He wasn't sure how to be a good American and a good Christian at the same time.
“I wanted to follow both. But I couldn’t. They were opposite. And I couldn’t reconcile them nohow in my soul. I wanted to do what was right. I wanted to be a good Christian and a good American too.´- York |
Source: riheritagehalloffame.org
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“And I knowed I jes had to be alone to fight it out with myself. Hit was one of them-there sort of battles where nobody can help you nohow. You have jes got to help yourself. And I kinder knowed that the only place where I could do that was back there in the mountains where I belonged.” – York
“So I applied for leave and I was given a pass for ten days.” – York
Then I begun to understand, not clearly yet, but kinder like. We were to be peacemakers. And it was written in the Bible, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ – That was we-uns. We were to help make peace, the only way the Germans would understand. But I couldn’t help a-wonderin’ why there wasn’t some other way to get peace except by fightin’ for it.” - York
"Camp Gordon: So we left Camp Gordon in the afternoon. April 19. 1918" - York