Colonel Douglas V. Mastriano - transcript.pdf

Col. Douglas Mastriano, Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne

Winner of the 2015 Colby Award for a major contribution to the understanding of military history, U.S. Army Col. Doug Mastriano's debut work sorts fact from myth in the first full-length biography of York in decades. Sponsored by the United States World War One Centennial Commission.

Alvin C. York (1887–1964)—devout Christian, conscientious objector, and reluctant hero of World War I—is one of America’s most famous and celebrated soldiers. Known to generations through Gary Cooper’s Academy Award-winning portrayal in the 1941 film Sergeant York, York is credited with the capture of 132 German soldiers on October 8, 1918, in the Meuse-Argonne region of France—a deed for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

At war’s end, the media glorified York’s bravery, but some members of the German military and a soldier from his own unit cast aspersions on his wartime heroics. Historians continue to debate whether York has received more recognition than he deserves. A fierce disagreement about the location of the battle in the Argonne forest has further complicated the soldier’s legacy.

In Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne, Douglas V. Mastriano sorts fact from myth in the first full-length biography of York in decades. He meticulously examines York’s youth in the hills of east Tennessee, his service in the Great War, and his return to a quiet civilian life dedicated to charity. By reviewing artifacts recovered from the battlefield using military terrain analysis, forensic study, and research in both German and American archives, Mastriano reconstructs the events of October 8 and corroborates the recorded accounts.

COLONEL DOUGLAS V. MASTRIANO, PhD, U.S. ARMY, is a military historian and faculty instructor at the U.S. Army War College in the Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations. A graduate of Eastern University, Col. Mastriano was commissioned an officer in 1986 and later earned Masters degrees in Strategic Intelligence (1992), Airpower Theory (2001), Military Operational Art and Science (2002), and Strategic Studies (2010), and a doctorate in history from the University of New Brunswick (2013). He is a combat veteran of Iraq (Operation Desert Storm) and Afghanistan.