Modest All-American Hero

Truth is the first casualty of war, a point cleverly made but not belabored in the stirring story of Sgt.Alvin York.

"Sergeant York" is a 1941 film with propagandistic elements meant to provoke nationalism as World War II looms over the American horizon.

The film's hero is played by the quintessential American hero, Gary Cooper, who portrays the roughhousing young man in the poverty-stricken hills of Tennessee. As as young man, he is drawn to drinking and carousing in the years leading up to World War I. And then a friend is killed in a bar fight and, according to the film, lightning strikes, literally; York finds God and pacifism, qualities generally admired until the drums of war sound. Then, they are too quickly disposed of.

The story goes like this: York, after his rediscovery of God, soon learns that war is on the way and that he, like many other young men, will be called upon to serve . He considers heading deeper into the hills to avoid service but is dissuaded. His religious objections won't matter; his pastor, played by Walter Brennan, stresses his responsibility to turn out when draft officials come to town. York signs up but makes clear he has no desire or willingness to kill anyone. He is soon tagged as a potential troublemaker. But his officers also quickly realize that he has a remarkable gift for sharpshooting and that he can be useful. And York, after discussions with officers, becomes convinced that Christianity and soldiering aren't incompatible. He also realizes that he has a responsibility to his fellow soldiers, misgivings about killing aside. Soon he finds himself in Europe, fighting the Germans.

And that's where he becomes a hero: with just month and three days remaining in the war, this quiet corporal (he was promoted later) was part of a force pinned down by several German machineguns. After several other sergeants and corporals were killed or wounded, York took command of seven other soldiers and, in part due to York's personal courage and deadly aim, several German soldiers were killed before the rest surrendered. York and his men were ultimately responsible for capturing 132 Germans and knocking the bloody machine guns out of commission. In the movie, York is shown issuing a turkey cry, confusing the Germans and allowing York to pick them off with his rifle.

This is where the truth gets stretched and is shown in the movie--as companies of American soldiers trudge toward the front, they pass the word back about York's heroism; with each telling the number of Germans killed or captured grows, as does the account of York's solo performance. It's a nice touch on rumor and exaggeration that I found a little surprising given the general tone of the movie overall. Exactly many York killed himself--and it was a bunch--is a matter of conjecture.

That is not to disparage York's very real accomplishments--charging a machine gun nest with any number of soldiers but let alone with a mere seven others is truly an amazing act of courage. No doubt York saw it as a matter of them vs. us--kill the Germans or be killed and those machine guns were a particularly brutal weapon against infantrymen.

York also believed he was guided by a higher power in everything he did, so he maintained his humility even as American and French military honors were heaped on him.

It is, in fact, his modesty that most commends him to fans of military history--he went to France because he had to; he killed when he had to save his fellow soldiers and then he went home. And he was under no illusion that he was the only brave man on the field or that all the true heroes had come home. York was ultimately awarded the Medal of Honor by the Americans and the Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre by the French.

Cooper, in this film, does what he always does best, playing the modest, laconic man whose heroism is thrust upon him. He is utterly believable, even if his Tennessean hill accent falls a little short. But he looks perfect in that doughboy uniform and the role was meant to be his. In fact, York insisted that his film biography could only be done by Cooper and he was right.

There's plenty of cornpone humor, nationalism and American wit in this film and yet none of that is overwhelming because the true story underneath is so impressive.