OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Kentucky
Long-time readers of these ramblings will know that I despise everything about University of Kentucky athletics. When Kentucky plays Vanderbilt in any sport I find myself trying to devise ways they can BOTH lose.
Ergo, Saturday's win by Our Beloved Volunteers over said MildKats brought a grin to this Old Vol's face.
And it was needed.
* * * * * * * * *
I spent Saturday, appropriately, at the Alvin C. York State Park at Pall Mall in Fentress County. Veterans Day this year marked the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that brought an end to the fighting in the Great War. Elder Son&Heir and I met with many of my old friends among the Living History participants and the State Parks folks. On display at the Visitor Center was York's Medal of Honor.It doesn't seem that four years have passed since I met Dr. Michael Birdwell at his office in Cookeville. He handed me a hand written list of names that became The Tennessee Great War Centennial Commission which has overseen and supported the state's celebrations and commemorations of all her sons who went off to fight “Over There.” Nearly 4,000 of those sons and one daughter, a nurse who died in the Spanish Flu pandemic, never came back.
Through Dr. Birdwell's good offices I have done things that were previously the stuff of daydreams for your Fearless Scribe. I delivered a talk at the kickoff for the Centennial in Nashville at the Tennessee State Museum in 2015. To this day that is one of the coolest things I have ever done. The next year, I spoke on Tennesseans who earned the Medal of Honor in the Great War during the Veterans Day commemorations that year at Alvin York State Park. Finally, two weeks ago, I delivered a talk on the Cherokee Code Talkers at a symposium at Tennessee Tech. In between, I have been asked to speak at such diverse venues as the East Tennessee Historical Center, the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum and the Cavett Station Chapter of the DAR.
And the ride isn't over yet.
As part of the effort to relieve the Lost Battalion discussed previously, the 82nd Division was ordered to attack. A part of that attack would become the stuff of legend.
On the morning of 8 October, the men of Lt. E.C.B. Danforth’s company in the 2nd Battalion, 328th Infantry, listened as he explained the day’s objective, a railroad about 2 miles ahead. It was an important target and Danforth did not patronize his men, he told them they were in for a rough day. Most platoons had been reduced to over sized squads by this point.
One platoon was split in half with one part under the platoon leader in the first wave and the other under the platoon sergeant in the second. The first wave strolled into a hail of machine gun and mortar fire and platoon leader, Lt. Stewart was hit in the thigh and as he hopped about rallying his men was shot dead by a sniper.
Now Sergeant Harry Parson’s half platoon had to do what it could to relieve the plight of their mates. Parson’s ordered his three squads to wheel left and try to work their way behind the German machine gun nests. One squad came upon a group of Germans who promptly surrendered. Some escaped though and raised the alarm. Machine guns wheeled about and began scything everything that lived. Squad leader Sgt. Bernard Early caught six rounds and was severely wounded. The assistant squad leader lasted only seconds longer and finally there were eight riflemen and a corporal left.
That Corporal was Alvin C. York.
Alvin York at Chatel Checherey in 1919. (US Army)
York immediately saw they had but one chance. He called on his outstanding marksmanship, learned in the hardscrabble world of Fentress County where an missed shot meant you went hungry. The Germans were behind a small rise and had to raise their heads to sight on York’s pitiful band. York later recalled, “Every time a head done come up, I knocked it down.” York worked his way around to where he could sight down the whole German line. The Germans organized a counter-attack and a squad moved toward York. He started shooting at the rearmost man and worked his way forward until the last of them fell to York's .45 automatic. He shot six, and then his squad mates shot fourteen more, until finally a German officer, seeing his men drop from unseen bullets, heard York’s repeated calls to surrender and did so. York and his mates rounded up more as they made their way back. When he finally reached Brigade headquarters, nobody else having room for such a large haul of prisoners, the Brigadier said, “Well, York, I hear you’ve captured the whole damned German Army!” York replied with his innate modesty, “No, Sir. I only have one hundred and thirty-two.” In time, Alvin Cullum York of Pall Mall, Tennessee, would wear the nation’s highest award for valor.
The ridge at Chatel-Chechery where York and his squad attacked. (US Army)
Sergeant Alvin York returned home as one of America’s most decorated soldiers. He married his sweetheart and tried to return to some sense of normalcy, but failed. On the eve of America's entry into the Second World War, York finally agreed to allow a movie to be made of his life and exploits. As the movie money rolled in, York did what he could for his neighbors, and got hounded by the IRS by way of thanks until President John Kennedy finally ordered them to cease and desist. His proudest achievement was the establishment of the York Institute chartered to bring education to the Upper Cumberland.
Alvin died in 1964 a year before the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution committed American Soldiers and Marines to the Vietnam War: yet another war the “War to End War” failed to prevent. Some 6,000 people came to Pall Mall, to the churchyard where his ancestors are sleeping, to honor him. The mourners included Gen. Matthew Ridgeway, one of the finest general officers this country has ever produced.
At the end of a very well done portrayal of a Great War attack of the American Army Saturday, there came a scene that caused tears to well. A group of about ten guys in period uniforms, bearing the dirt and grime from the “attack” came and stood in line before the crowd of onlookers. With smoke and dust still hanging in the air, each one stepped forward and read the name, hometown and unit of a Tennessee soldier who had been Killed in Action on 10 November 1918, exactly a century before.
For an instant they weren't young men of the 21st Century.
They were ghosts of our past.
*********
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
Given the Vols' lackluster performance against Charlotte, many of us felt that Tennessee's chances against the #11 Kats were slim to none. I don't what HeadVol Pruitt told his charges during the week or if they spiked the training table tea urns with gunpowder but whatever it was, it worked!
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
Listening to the game on the way home your Scribe kept flashing back to the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” asking, “Who are those guys?”
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don’t let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!
FIVE sacks by the Vol defense that also held the MildKats to 77 yards rushing. Well done, gents, well done!
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
The above mentioned sacks plus two interceptions and a fumble recovery fulfilled The Gen'rul's Maxim in the best way possible.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
After a season of middling at best rushing offense, Vols rang up some 215 yards rushing against a defense that had been allowing about half that. This speaks not only to the ability of the Vol running backs but we may also be seeing the emergence of the Orange-clad offensive line with good omens for the future.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Cimaglia and Joe Doylke continue to impress. Let's not forget Callaway's nifty punt return that set up Tennessee's first score: a nineteen yarder by Cimaglia.
7. Carry the fight to Kentucky and keep it there for sixty minutes.
While the Vols did not score in the last canto, the defense more than made up for that. This was as close (though not quite there yet) to a complete game as long-suffering Vol fans have seen in a looonnggg time.
Two more games remain in Tennessee's season. Two opportunities to prove Saturday and the earlier victory over Auburn were not flukes but a brightening of the Eastern sky heralding a return of Our Beloved Volunteers to football prominence.
One thing remains a constant through it all. Whenever the Vols actually APPLY the Gen'rul's seven Game Maxims, they are damned near unbeatable.
The Old Man knew what he was doing.
MAXOMG
© 2018 Keeping Your Stories Alive
Suggested Reading:
Sam Cowan, Sergeant York and His People
John S.D. Eisenhower, Yanks
Michael Kelly, Hero on the Western Front
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wasn't very prevalent then 
