Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Alvin York

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...thats an interesting gun vise hes got there...alittle resesch, it may be made by Bisley, if they are the original designers back then. Dont know.

Hmmm…I see this with a pic of the movie box.


Sergeant York
1941 NR Rated NR2hr 14m
rated 4.0 stars
4.0
In a career-defining performance that earned him his first Academy Award, Gary Cooper stars as Alvin York, a poor Appalachian pacifist drafted into World War I. Placed in an impossible position, York single-handedly captures an entire enemy platoon and becomes a national hero. This World War II-era Hollywood classic based on the real-life war hero received 11 Academy Award nominations, including one for director Howard Hawks.
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Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, more…

We subscribe - would different movies be available in different regions?

One of my favorite movies, with one of my favorite actors, along with a very good supporting actor. Of course I'm talking about Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan. I've been to Pall Mall Tn., and been through the old mill there, in the valley of the three forks of the Wolf. The story of Alvin York is a very good one, and one worth researching. Also, the story of the making of the movie, as York picked Cooper to portray him, and wouldn't allow a cigarette smoking woman to be in the movie. Dedicated Sargent York fans also know that he didn't use a Springfield and a Luger to do his fighting with. He used an Enfield and a 1911 Colt. Supposedly, there was no reliable blank 45 ACP ammo, so they couldn't use the Colt, and had to go with the Luger because they had 9mm blanks.

Nice someone remembers this movie and Alvin... I used to show it when I taught school..

I believe Alvin would not let his story be glamorized, and he had a hand in picking Cooper to play him in the film...

I never read a great deal about Cooper, but have read much on Hemingway.. He and Cooper were pals and hunted quite a bit in Idaho... Cooper needed glasses but his contract prevented him from wearing them in public..

Looks like a Japanese Arisaka rifle leaning on his bench.

Excellent movie, watch it once or twice a year.

Interesting. Thanks for posting that.

Haven't watched it in a few years, but always enjoy it when I do.

Youre Welcome.

I show it every year to my third grade classes!! They love it. I like the way America treated heroes back then(like royalty), that's the way it should be now

I've read a article once in a gun rag , can't remember which one may have been The American Rifleman, where his grandson insisted that even though Alvin was issued a '17 Enfield that he disliked the balance and the peep sight and "acquired" a
'03 Springfield while in Europe.

Seems like I may have read that too, but everything else I've read all said that he used the Enfield. I can understand why he would have preferred the Springfield though, as I've always thought they handled much better than the Enfield.

I LOVE that movie.... I live about an hour from there and hunt about 15 minutes from Pall Mall..... Well worth a visit if you are in the area

My wife is related to York, and she remembers York coming to the house on many occasions. Her Dad fought in The Bulge under Patton. The two cousins used to talk at the kitchen table. She remembers him as a nice old man.

Years ago, I was caving at a place close by Alvin York's grave. I remember passing the grave site on the way to the cave. This was back in the early 80's. The National Speleological Society was surveying a cave called Devil's Dungeon. What struck me was that little had changed since the movie. We parked in a creek bottom next to a cabin. The father was out with a mule, plowing the vegetable patch.

1911a1-
I think you are remembering an article by Garry James that appeared in American Rifleman in June 2005. The article was posted in June 2016 on the website of the American Rifleman magazine.
Here's a link: [color:#0000FF][b]Sgt. York: American Rifleman, American Hero[/b][/color]
--Bob

I watched a documentary on Alvin York several years back that included some segments with him being interviewed in his last years. Very humble, 'salt of the earth' man. He still fretted over the lives he was forced to take during the war.