INDEPENDENCE WEEK...PATRIOTIC "HICKS"...

In this day of "uber-elitism" in the media, and politics, we may forget that "Hicks from the sticks" have done their fair share to preserve our freedom...and deliver freedom to millions of others around the globe. I get sick and dadgummed tired of hearing elitists deride "small-town-Americans" as ill-educated, hopeless, gun/God clingers (I'm looking at you Obama).

While looking back at the history of our great nation, we realize just how valuable the Hicks are...and how much they sacrificed to preserve the liberties that elitists enjoy.

Now, I am not putting down for one moment "City Boys." I know that millions from Brooklyn, The Bronx, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Detroit, etc. have thrown in (with all their hearts) to defend freedom when it was threatened. But I really do get a full-blown case of the reds when guys (and gals) from Sterlington, WY, or Piggot, AR, or Dead Horse, AK, or Ramon, NM, or Clyde, WI, or Tightwad, MO, or Dry Prong, LA ,or Wink, TX are painted as something less than valuable when they march off to war to defend their friends, neighbors, and families. I get sick to my stomach when I hear politicians in DC...and uber elitist media types casting them as "cannon fodder, unable to make a living without the US War Machine." It makes me want to VOMIT!

My beloved Granddaddy (Billy Joe Austin...yes, his real name on his birth certificate was "Billy Joe") was a Hick from Monroe, NC (he was actually raised on a hog farm outside Monroe). Most of his brother-in-laws were raised in rural NW Louisiana (Mooringsport). After the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor they all went to Shreveport to sign up to go kick some Jap ass. My Great Uncles Earl, Ross, Lee, and C.H. (Uncle C.H. was a city boy from Chicago BTW...like I said...I ain't dis'in City Boys) knew what was at stake.

The story of America's freedom is rich with the sacrifices of "small town boys and gals." There are a gozillion others. Maybe it is because I saw the movie "Sergeant York," starring the great Gary Cooper on The Late Movie one night when I was a kid...but I've always been fascinated by this 'Hick" from Pall Mall, Tennessee. Yep...Pall Mall, Tennessee (I reckon that's where they growed the tubackey for makin' them Pall Mall cigareets.

Alvin York was a Christian that didn't really want to kill anybody. He was just forced (like we all are) to choose between evils because of the acts of evil men.

Sergeant Alvin York

From Alvin York's Wiki bio:

During an attack by his battalion to secure German positions along the Decauville rail-line north of Chatel-Chehery, France, on October 8, 1918, York's actions earned him the Medal of Honor. He recalled:

"The Germans got us, and they got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we couldn’t tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire was coming from… And I'm telling you they were shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our attack just faded out… And there we were, lying down, about halfway across [the valley] and those German machine guns and big shells getting us hard."

"And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. 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… As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp shooting… All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. 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."

One of York’s prisoners, German First Lieutenant Paul Jürgen Vollmer of 1st Battalion, 120th Württemberg Landwehr Regiment emptied his pistol trying to kill York while he was contending with the machine guns. Failing to injure York, and seeing his mounting losses, he offered to surrender the unit to York, which was gladly accepted. By the end of the engagement, York and his seven men marched 132 German prisoners back to the American lines. His actions silenced the German machine guns and were responsible for enabling the 328th Infantry to renew its attack to capture the Decauville Railroad.

York was a corporal during the action. His promotion to sergeant was part of the honor for his valor. Of his deeds, York said to his division commander, General George B. Duncan, in 1919: "A higher power than man power guided and watched over me and told me what to do."

On June 7, 1919, York and Gracie Williams were married by Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts. They had seven children, most named after American historical figures: five sons (Alvin C., Junior; Edward Buxton; Woodrow Wilson; Andrew Jackson; and Thomas Jefferson) and two daughters (Betsy Ross and Mary Alice).

During World War II he attempted to re-enlist in the Infantry but was denied due to age. Instead he went on bond tours and made personal appearances to support the war effort. He convinced the state of the need for a reserve force at home and was active in the creation of the Tennessee State Guard in 1941, in which he served as a Colonel and Commanding Officer of the 7th Infantry Regiment. He was also involved with recruiting and war bond drives as well as inspection tours of American soldiers in training.

Alvin York died at the Veterans Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 2, 1964.

Rest In Peace, all y'all Hicks. And Thankee!