How long before the PC crowd turns him from hero into blood thirsty murderer?
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/02/28702980.shtml?Element_ID=28702980
Foundation hopes to preserve Sgt. York's story
By LEON ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer
JAMESTOWN, Tenn. — The name of Fentress County's favorite son, Sgt. Alvin C. York, remains prominent there, nearly 85 years after he singlehandedly quieted numerous German machine gun nests and subsequently captured 132 enemy soldiers in France's Argonne Forest during World War I.
But 10 years ago there was evidence the attention was in name only.
The farmer from nearby Pall Mall, whose wartime experiences became the subject of a Gary Cooper movie, the man whose face was as recognizable as U.S. presidents during the first half of the 20th century, was fast becoming a historical footnote in his home county.
He was fading away, as old soldiers do.
''His papers weren't cataloged. His house was closed. We were losing him for the next generation, and that would be a terrible loss,'' W. Lipscomb ''Buzz'' Davis said.
Davis, a resident of Nashville, is founder and chairman of the board of the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation, a nonprofit agency whose aim is to keep York's story — his courage during battle and his postwar efforts to improve life in the mountain community — relevant for future generations.
''We need heroes today, more than ever,'' he said. ''Sergeant York still has lessons to teach.''
The York Foundation celebrates its 10th birthday in 2003. The group has been successful at creating a partnership with the state, which owns the York farm, and York's descendants. Today, the York home is open for view, his papers are cataloged and preserved and the York General Store, the one he owned and operated for many years, has been opened as an interpretive center visited by 15,000 to 20,000 annually.
But for all its achievement, the foundation has not been successful at getting local members. Last fall, only 14 of the group's 320 members lived in Fentress County.
''We recognized that we had to turn that around if we were ever going to really make progress and advance to the next level,'' said Kathy Lewis, the foundation's project coordinator and a longtime resident of Fentress County.
In particular, the foundation has discussed building a World War I museum, staging an annual summertime outdoor drama on the life of York, turning part of the York place into a 1920s working farm and another part of it into a simulated World War I battle site.
''But you can't do any of these without money, the kind of large amounts you get only from big foundations that fund organizations like ours,'' said Lewis, a local educator who is president of EXCEED Inc., a consortium that links rural schools with a fiber-optic network.
''And who is going to take us seriously outside Fentress County if we aren't taken seriously right here in our hometown? We had to have the local support,'' Miller Leonard said. Leonard, who worked in public relations and advertising in Nashville for many years before moving to Allardt, Tenn., helped create a membership campaign, in cooperation with a colleague, John Fussell.
The four local banks in the county underwrote the costs of the three-month blitz, and in late fall Fentress residents were asked to join the foundation in a flurry of radio advertising and newspaper ads. The usual cost of membership was cut by more than half, to $12 per family.
''We wanted to make sure that joining was affordable,'' Leonard said.
The advertisements pricked the locals' pride, reminding them how one of their own had once been world famous. But the ads also noted that Fentress County residents now seemed to take him for granted.
''The legacy of Sergeant York seems to have been lost to several generations locally,'' one stated bluntly.
Other towns with famous sons have done a better job of remembering their own, the ad continued: ''… drive in to Salinas, Calif., and see if you can miss the fact that John Steinbeck was raised there.''
The ad also points out that the York home has a fresh coat of paint, thanks to an Ohio contractor who visited the home, noticed the flaking exterior and offered a crew to do the work.
''There was the chance that it wasn't going to work, that people wouldn't be prompted to join up, but that hasn't happened. They have come through in incredible ways,'' Leonard noted.
With one week remaining in the advertising campaign, 3,055 new applications for membership have been received. That's almost one out of every four citizens in the county.
''The response has been phenomenal,'' said Davis, whose lifelong interest in York comes from his father, who was York's press secretary during a yearlong speaking tour the soldier took after returning from World War I.
''One individual paid memberships for all the Junior ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) students at York Institute. That led to another individual paying the memberships for all the ROTC students at the other high school in the county at Clarkrange,'' he said, noting the first individual considered the gift a way to repay York, who did a favor for him in 1941.
The faculty at one school have challenged faculties at other schools to join the foundation. Grandparents who knew Sgt. York paid for their grandchildren's memberships.
''I think it's wonderful. The young ones need to know about what Sergeant York has done for the local people,'' said Marie Beaty, 75, who experienced firsthand York's largesse.
She and her sister, Martha, were teens when the Gary Cooper movie, Sergeant York, premiered in New York City. Instead of going to Manhattan himself, York sent members of the Preston (Press) Beaty family of Fentress County.
''Ours was the biggest family in the county — there were 18 of us, 13 girls and five boys — and he wanted us to have the opportunity to go. Of course, they couldn't take us all, so me and Marie got to go,'' said Martha Mitchell, 74, of Rockwood. Her parents and an older brother, Charlie, also attended the premiere.
''I told my grandchildren about Sergeant York. They've watched the movie, but they need to know more. He was a good man and shouldn't be forgotten,'' Beaty said.
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/03/02/28702980.shtml?Element_ID=28702980
Foundation hopes to preserve Sgt. York's story
By LEON ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer
JAMESTOWN, Tenn. — The name of Fentress County's favorite son, Sgt. Alvin C. York, remains prominent there, nearly 85 years after he singlehandedly quieted numerous German machine gun nests and subsequently captured 132 enemy soldiers in France's Argonne Forest during World War I.
But 10 years ago there was evidence the attention was in name only.
The farmer from nearby Pall Mall, whose wartime experiences became the subject of a Gary Cooper movie, the man whose face was as recognizable as U.S. presidents during the first half of the 20th century, was fast becoming a historical footnote in his home county.
He was fading away, as old soldiers do.
''His papers weren't cataloged. His house was closed. We were losing him for the next generation, and that would be a terrible loss,'' W. Lipscomb ''Buzz'' Davis said.
Davis, a resident of Nashville, is founder and chairman of the board of the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation, a nonprofit agency whose aim is to keep York's story — his courage during battle and his postwar efforts to improve life in the mountain community — relevant for future generations.
''We need heroes today, more than ever,'' he said. ''Sergeant York still has lessons to teach.''
The York Foundation celebrates its 10th birthday in 2003. The group has been successful at creating a partnership with the state, which owns the York farm, and York's descendants. Today, the York home is open for view, his papers are cataloged and preserved and the York General Store, the one he owned and operated for many years, has been opened as an interpretive center visited by 15,000 to 20,000 annually.
But for all its achievement, the foundation has not been successful at getting local members. Last fall, only 14 of the group's 320 members lived in Fentress County.
''We recognized that we had to turn that around if we were ever going to really make progress and advance to the next level,'' said Kathy Lewis, the foundation's project coordinator and a longtime resident of Fentress County.
In particular, the foundation has discussed building a World War I museum, staging an annual summertime outdoor drama on the life of York, turning part of the York place into a 1920s working farm and another part of it into a simulated World War I battle site.
''But you can't do any of these without money, the kind of large amounts you get only from big foundations that fund organizations like ours,'' said Lewis, a local educator who is president of EXCEED Inc., a consortium that links rural schools with a fiber-optic network.
''And who is going to take us seriously outside Fentress County if we aren't taken seriously right here in our hometown? We had to have the local support,'' Miller Leonard said. Leonard, who worked in public relations and advertising in Nashville for many years before moving to Allardt, Tenn., helped create a membership campaign, in cooperation with a colleague, John Fussell.
The four local banks in the county underwrote the costs of the three-month blitz, and in late fall Fentress residents were asked to join the foundation in a flurry of radio advertising and newspaper ads. The usual cost of membership was cut by more than half, to $12 per family.
''We wanted to make sure that joining was affordable,'' Leonard said.
The advertisements pricked the locals' pride, reminding them how one of their own had once been world famous. But the ads also noted that Fentress County residents now seemed to take him for granted.
''The legacy of Sergeant York seems to have been lost to several generations locally,'' one stated bluntly.
Other towns with famous sons have done a better job of remembering their own, the ad continued: ''… drive in to Salinas, Calif., and see if you can miss the fact that John Steinbeck was raised there.''
The ad also points out that the York home has a fresh coat of paint, thanks to an Ohio contractor who visited the home, noticed the flaking exterior and offered a crew to do the work.
''There was the chance that it wasn't going to work, that people wouldn't be prompted to join up, but that hasn't happened. They have come through in incredible ways,'' Leonard noted.
With one week remaining in the advertising campaign, 3,055 new applications for membership have been received. That's almost one out of every four citizens in the county.
''The response has been phenomenal,'' said Davis, whose lifelong interest in York comes from his father, who was York's press secretary during a yearlong speaking tour the soldier took after returning from World War I.
''One individual paid memberships for all the Junior ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) students at York Institute. That led to another individual paying the memberships for all the ROTC students at the other high school in the county at Clarkrange,'' he said, noting the first individual considered the gift a way to repay York, who did a favor for him in 1941.
The faculty at one school have challenged faculties at other schools to join the foundation. Grandparents who knew Sgt. York paid for their grandchildren's memberships.
''I think it's wonderful. The young ones need to know about what Sergeant York has done for the local people,'' said Marie Beaty, 75, who experienced firsthand York's largesse.
She and her sister, Martha, were teens when the Gary Cooper movie, Sergeant York, premiered in New York City. Instead of going to Manhattan himself, York sent members of the Preston (Press) Beaty family of Fentress County.
''Ours was the biggest family in the county — there were 18 of us, 13 girls and five boys — and he wanted us to have the opportunity to go. Of course, they couldn't take us all, so me and Marie got to go,'' said Martha Mitchell, 74, of Rockwood. Her parents and an older brother, Charlie, also attended the premiere.
''I told my grandchildren about Sergeant York. They've watched the movie, but they need to know more. He was a good man and shouldn't be forgotten,'' Beaty said.
