Discoveries could pinpoint location of York firefight

By Chris Dumond

Published: July 5, 2008

Ninety years after 17 American soldiers helped capture more than 130 German soldiers in a raid on a nest of machine guns, the patrol’s activities are alive again in France’s Argonne Forest.

An Army officer stationed in Germany erected a Sgt. Alvin York memorial just a few weeks ago, after 20 years of researching the location of the firefight that earned York the Medal of Honor and a place in history.

Related story: Lynchburg soldier faded into obscurity as Sgt. York became icon

“After 90 years, the York spot is now identified and marked so it will never again be ‘lost’ in the fog of memory,” Lt. Col. Douglas Mastriano recently wrote to supporters.

Like most developments in the legacy of Sgt. York, the monument is not without detractors.

In 2006, a group of researchers from Middle Tennessee State University headed by York papers curator Michael Birdwell and geography specialist Tom Nolan traveled to France in hopes of locating the York fight.

The group identified a different site about half a mile southwest of Mastriano’s location. Nolan has criticized the colonel’s research as hasty and maintains his site is the correct one. Mastriano bolstered his claim in October 2006 by discovering 19 .45-caliber shell casings in a grouping that supports York’s story that he fired three magazines, or 21 bullets, from his Colt 1911 pistol at Germans who tried charging him during the firefight.

According to a June 2006 New York Times article, which quoted both Birdwell and Mastriano, both groups agreed the discovery of those .45 casings would verify which was the correct site.

Mastriano told The News & Advance finding those casings was the “piece de résistance.”

Birdwell did not respond to several interview requests.

Mastriano’s effort, supported by the French government and the U.S. Army,  includes a walking trail and a dedication ceremony scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 4.

He said he also would like to dedicate a stone memorial nearby to the entire 17-man patrol, which included Lynchburg native Thomas Johnson.