As he fought, his mind visualized the
tactics of the enemy in the moves they made, and whether the attack upon
him was with rifle or machine gun, hand-grenade or bayonet, he met it
with an unfailing marksmanship that equalized the disparity in numbers.
Another passage in his direct and simple story shows the character of
this man who came from a distant recess of the mountains with no code of
ethics except a confidence in his fellow man.
Those of the Americans who were not killed or wounded in the first
machine gun-fire had saved themselves as York had done. They had dived
into the brush and lay flat upon the ground, behind trees, among the
prisoners, protected by any obstruction they could find, and the stream
of bullets passed over them.
York was at the left, beyond the edge of the thicket. The others were
shut off by the underbrush from a view of the German machine guns that
were firing on them. York had the open of the slope of the hill, and it
fell to him to fight the fight. He wrote in his diary when he could find
time, and the story was written in "fox-holes" in the Forest of Argonne,
in the evenings after the American soldiers had dug in. Tho his records
were for no one but himself, he had no thought that raised his
performance of duty above that of his comrades:
"They killed 6 and wounded 3.
Pages:
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147