It was 100 years ago yesterday, October 8, 1918, that Alvin York killed 2 dozen Germans and captured 132 others.

Very nice.

Maybe 1 in 100 could tell you who this bad ass was. WWI is so unknown to the average American.

In 2010 I visited his home in Pall Mall Tennessee, which is now a state park. Met his son, Andrew Jackson York. Pall Mall is near the Kentucky border, halfway between where I-65 and I-75 cross the border of the 2 states. After seeing the movie numerous times I wanted to see where he lived and was glad I did.

Corporal Punishment said:

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Very nice.

Maybe 1 in 100 could tell you who this bad ass was.

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The Gary Cooper movie used to be on TV a lot. Probably the only reason I know.

mullokmotx said:

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In 2010 I visited his home in Pall Mall Tennessee, which is now a state park. Met his son, Andrew Jackson York. Pall Mall is near the Kentucky border, halfway between where I-65 and I-75 cross the border of the 2 states. After seeing the movie numerous times I wanted to see where he lived and was glad I did.

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He did a lot of great things for his home community. They still have a strong high school thanks to the funds he provided. Good man all around.

Visited the site where this happened when I was on a 10 day WWI tour in early August. Was pretty cool to be there and to hear about how some researchers had done some extensive studies trying to put together the when and where it all came about. And yes, as someone posted earlier, so many know so little about WWI and even less about our involvement in the Great War. To walk through Belleau Wood and see crater after crater still there after 100 years, in amongst huge trees that were no doubt there when the fighting took place. It was nice to be with 38 others, mostly the grandchildren, a few were grand nephews and grand nieces, and one daughter of some of those boys who fought in France. I'd guess if they could have looked down and seen us, they might have wondered about all the fuss, but I hope they grinned that we cared enough to make the trip in their memory.

I always wet my sights when I'm fixin to do some shootin

I am really shocked at how little attention ww1 gets, even on its 100 year anniversaries.

Frankly its arguably the most important, tragic thing that ever happened.

Time will tell, but it seems that it directly caused the end of western civilization, the enlightenment, and the values we at A&M support.

Smokedraw01 said:

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cbr said:

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I am really shocked at how little attention ww1 gets, even on its 100 year anniversaries.

Frankly its arguably the most important, tragic thing that ever happened.

Time will tell, but it seems that it directly caused the end of western civilization, the enlightenment, and the values we at A&M support.

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And end to western civilization?

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in the long view, it seems pretty clear.

in 1914, western europeans controlled the world

their technology and culture was advancing education, science, quality of life, democracy, and a future for mankind, and building infrastructure and foundations for humans to live well and go to the stars. Africa was a booming continent. The US was a bright star.

by population, they were 520 million people of 1.7b on earth, or 31% of population.

it wasnt all pretty, but it was overall, one of the most egalitarian and ethical major civilizations in history, and certainly the one giving mankind the best hope of living really well as a species for a really long time.

Then they started the european civil war, otw known as the sequence of events beginning with WW1. Which led to communism, fascism, and WW2. They killed their own economies, and their own people, killing hundreds of millions of their own and destroying their own countries, seemingly blind to what would happen after.

Today, western civilization has little military power other than the US, and basically has turned its back on its best attributes, deliberately attacking its own core values. By population, its numbers are down to about 900 million out of over 7.5 billion, or about 12% of world population.

we've allowed china and other asian economies to skip the difficulties of development, steal intellectual property and jump many generations ahead. Despite their own inherent societal problems, asia is booming, and the western european era seems almost over. africa is a frothing cesspool, and latin america is turning into one too.

Whether we get a new dark ages, an asian era, or a 'world peace and love' era to replace it remains to be seen. But i wouldnt bet on the latter.

Growing up in Nashville, York's exploits were well known to me as a kid. I remember seeing this statue many times on the grounds of the Capitol in Nashville.