War hero Alvin York to be subject of Crader Lecture

An expert on World War I luminary Sgt. Alvin York is scheduled to speak Tuesday night as part of Southeast Missouri State University's annual Crader Lecture in the Humanities.

Douglas Mastriano, a professor at the U.S. Army War College and an Army colonel, is scheduled to lecture on "Sergeant York: The Myths and History of an American Battlefield Hero" at 7:30 p.m. in Glenn Auditorim at Dempster Hall.

Wayne Bowen, professor and chair of the history department at Southeast, was instrumental in tapping Mastriano for the presentation.

"It's a compelling story, and Mastriano is suited to deliver it," Bowen said.

The lecture is meant to take the audience through York's life and military service and show how historians ask questions and find answers about historical figures.

Mastriano has researched York in great detail -- especially the deed for which he is best known.

York's capture of 132 German soldiers Oct. 8, 1918, in the Meuse-Argonne region of France is what catapulted him to fame and earned him a Medal of Honor. It also was what led to actor Gary Cooper's Academy Award-winning portrayal of the East Tennessee mountain man in the 1941 movie "Sergeant York."

On that day during the Great War, York's battalion was trying to take out a nest of German machine gunners, but it was going badly.

Six Americans were killed and three wounded. York, then a corporal, took commmand of the remaining seven men.

Both sides kept up a steady barrage of fire, with York trying to get the Germans to surrender. A group of German soldiers in a nearby trench tried to overwhelm York with their bayonets, but he killed them all before they could reach him.

When the German commander of the opposing infantry saw the American wasn't going to give up, he surrendered, along with his men.

During the lecture Tuesday, Bowen said Mastriano will talk about York's religious convictions and his initial reluctance to join the war effort.

The speaker also will talk about lesser-known facts from York's life and times.

"Yes, (York is) a battlefield hero, but there's a complicated human being here," Bowen said. "He was complicated when he went to war, and he was complicated when he came back. He wasn't perfect."

Mastriano's lecture will be based on his award-winning book, "Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne."

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