A Forgotten Man

The lingering mournful notes of taps sounded that day in 1950, when an unsung hero of WW1, a man who had fought with Sgt. York in the action that had thrilled a nation, was laid to rest in Pennsylvania. An invalid from wounds he recieved in a subsequent battle, George H. BosIey had been a member of Company G, 328th Infantry the day Sgt. York used a machine gun to pick off Germans who were annihilating his company and then marched 132 prisoners back to American lines, earning the Pall Mall, Tennessee man the adulation of a nation, a Congressional Medal of Honor, some financial reward and, in 1941, a motion picture about his life.

Bosley always said that Alvin C. York earned all he ever got through his coolness and heroism in that 'No Mans Land battle,' but he never stood for a movement in the limelight, himself. All he would ever say was, "I was there, I saw it happen." But sadly, as fate would have it, on Oct. 14, 1918, six days after Sgt. York's heroic deed, shrapnel pierced Bosley's helmet, taking out his left eye and part of his head, and making him an invalid for the rest of his life. He woke up in an Army hospital five weeks later. By the time he was shipped home, heroes were plentiful, so he quietly took up life in the small Pennsylvania town of West Newton and that day with Sgt. York became just a memory. Unable to work steadily, a small pension helped him rear his family.

After Warner Brothers decided to film it's Sgt. York movie, efforts were made to find all of the men who had been with the heroic sharpshooter in the fight against the enemy. They found all but one - George Bosley. Yet, in one of the scenes in the movie, a prisoner throws a hand grenade that wounds one of Sgt. York's companions. That companion was Bosley. The grenade wounded him on the nose and cheek. For his heroism, this forgotten man of a great incident of American battle history was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre and a Purple Heart.

A Public Speaking Interrupted

Aug. 29, 1935, (AP) Albany, Ky. -- "The jerking of a microphone from in front of Circuit Judge Swope, Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky, threw a large homecoming crowd into an uproar here and resulted in the arrest of Mose Hurt Littrell, 43, on a charge of interrupting a public speaking."

The 100th birthday anniversary of Clinton County in 1935 was a really big deal. The Disabled American Veterans of the World War, chapter 10, under the command of Littrell, organized the event, which lasted four days, August 26th through the 29th, complete with a Homecoming and Centennial Jubilee, an epic event with a who's who list of speakers. Senators Alben W. Barkley and Marvel Mills Logan of Kentucky and Huey Long of Louisiana, Congressmen John Robsion of Kentucky and Ridley Mitchell of Tennessee tentatively accepted invitations to attend, provided Congress had adjourned by celebration time. Louisville Times editor Tom Wallace also accepted an invitation to speak on the opening day. The final day of the celebration was designated as Governor's Day and Good Roads Day. Governor Ruby Laffoon and Ed Gatliff, state road commissioner, and several other members of the commission were expected to attend.

Other speakers who accepted invitations to attend were Ben Johnson of Bardstown, Dr. Baird, state commander of the D.A.V. and state adjutant of the American Legion. N.E. Whiting, head of the Veteran's Bureau in Louisville and past commander of the D.A.V., Sargeant Alvin C. York, WWII hero of Pall Mall, Kentucky State Treasurer Elam Huddleston, a former resident of Clinton County, and Judge Roscoe Tarter of Somerset.

1935 was an election year in Kentucky and on the ballot was the Kentucky governor's seat. The DAV's arrangement committee, who organized the centennial celebration, decided to invite the three leading candidates for the office. They were Lieutenant Governor A.B. "Happy" Chandler, Thomas Rhea and Judge King Swope.

Commander Littrell, who was chairman of the arrangement committee, would later write that he had advised all of the speakers not to mention anything political during their speeches. He cited Article 12 of the national Disabled American Veterans of the Work War, which provides that the corporation shall be non-political, non-sectional and as an organization shall not promote the candidacy of any person seeking public office.

Judge Swope, a former congressman and current judge in Fayette County, spoke to a crowded  courtroom inside the courthouse on Aug. 28th. Speakers were set up outside the courthouse so hundreds of others could listen. Littrell was in town but was not present when Swope began his speech. He later said the speech was 'purely political and in furtherance of his own candidacy.' A majority of the arrangement committee was present for the speech and decided Swope's was out of order. They wrote those words in a note and handed it to J.G. Smith, chairman of the Clinton County Republican party, who in turn handed it to Judge Swope, who immediately began what Mose Littrell later described as a "vitrolic assault on the senders of the note," referring to them as cowards and asserted that he would speak on any subject he might choose.

Littrell said he was outside but within range of the P.A. system and heard Judge Swope's "attack' on the committee members. In a letter to the Louisville Courier-Journal on September 3, 1935, he said he felt that it was up to him to advise the audience that the type of speech being given by Judge Swope was against the provisions of the DAV organization and to advise them that if Judge Swope continues with that type of speech, the DAV desired to disavow all connections with it and to withdraw as its sponsor. Littrell said he went into the courtroom, walked up to the microphone and took ahold of it, but before he could make his announcement, he was seized by a number of people who were sitting nearby. He was taken downstairs to the sheriff's office while Swope continued with his speech. The Republican party chairman took out a warrant for Littrell's arrest and he was taken to the Clinton County Jail, but then released on a $300 bond.

The Tennessean newspaper told a slightly different story. "Officers said Littrell seized the microphone and ran with it...members of the crowd "dragged" him to the sheriff's office downstairs.

Littrell told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he was a Republican who had the highest respect for Judge Swope, but felt that it was his duty as a member of the DAV to abide by the Article 12 of the organization's constitution. Swope said he accepted the invitation to speak with the understanding that he could make a political speech.

Littrell was charged and indicted. An Oct. 4th trial date was continued until Nov. 15th because it was believed Littrell would receive a fairer trial "after" the election. On the 15th, Littrell pleaded guilty to a charge of  Disturbing a Public Speaker and was fined $300 to be paid within three months.

King Swope lost the election to Happy Chandler in one of the most lopsided gubernatorial races in Kentucky history at that time. In the 1939 primary, he lost the Republican nomination for governor  to John Sherman Cooper.
Mose Hurt Littrell was born on Nov. 24, 1892 to Thomas Mark and Nannie Hurt Littrell. He died on Mar. 16, 1938. He was married to Mary McMillan. They had a daughter, Mary, the wife of Gayron Cross.

Alvin C. York Was a Hero

Friday marked the 100th anniversary (April 6, 1917) of the day the United States joined its allies to fight in the war to end all wars.

Alvin York of Pall Mall, one of the biggest heroes of World War I, registered for the draft two months later.

York was a pacifist who asked to become a conscientious objector. The National Archives kept his draft registration form. The 12th line on the form asked: "Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)" was the question on line 12 of the draft registration form?

The 29-year-old, a devoted churchgoer, responded: "Yes. Don't want to fight."

But, five months later, he was drafted, refusing to sign the documents that would have released him from military service. He wrote in his diary that both his company and battalion commanders persuaded him to fight, citing several Biblical passages about morality in war.

He ended up serving with his unit in the St. Mihiel offensive in northeastern France in September 1918. The attack weakened German forces in northern France and set the stage for attacks in the Argonne Forest and eventually Chatel-Chéhéry.

It would be where Alvin C. York became a hero.

On Oct. 8, 1918, his battalion moved to capture German positions near a railway. York's sergeant ordered him, along with three other non-commissioned officers and 13 privates, to infiltrate the German lines and take out their machine guns.

They moved behind the Germans and overran their headquarters, capturing a group who were planning to attack American troops. Machine-gun fire broke out as the American soldiers processed their new prisoners, killing six and wounding three.

According to his diary, York counter-attacked by taking charge of the remaining seven soldiers.

He wrote the excerpts:

"You never heard such a racket in all of your life. I didn't have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush....

(1) As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over 30 of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. (2) I was sharp shooting....all the time I kept yelling at them to come down.. (3) I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had."

York ran out of rifle ammunition just as six German soldiers charged him with fixed bayonets, so he switched to his sidearm, an M1911 pistol, and shot each of them before they could reach him.

What he did that day was silence a German battalion of 35 machine guns, kill 25 enemy soldiers and capture 132. For his heroics, he received more than 50 decorations, was promoted to sergeant and awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest and most prestigious personal American military decoration.