Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne

4. Marching as to War

43 4 Marching as to War It was a quiet sector where they put new troops into training before sending them out to No Man’s Land. The Greeks and Italians and all of the other boys done fairly well. They shore were turning out to be the bestest soldiers. I was often out on No Man’s Land. —Alvin York Alvin returned on 31 March 1918 to Camp Gordon just as his unit received orders to deploy to France. The division had a farewell parade on 4 April that was reviewed by Georgia governor Hugh M. Dorsey and the widow of the celebrated Confederate Civil War general for whom the camp was named, John Brown Gordon. Thus the odyssey of moving York’s unit to France began. The next weeks were dedicated to frantic deployment activities that included packing , issuing equipment, organizing movement routes, preparing rail and ship manifests, developing load plans, and having soldiers fill out stacks of predeployment documents that ranged from wills to financial allotments.1 Adding to the confusion was an order from the War Department to “comb out alien enemies [Germans, Austrians , Turks, or Bulgarians] and men unfit for service.”2 This created gaps in the regiment that were later filled by raw recruits. The movement of the 82nd Division from Camp Gordon to France began when elements of the division departed on 10 April. York’s regiment left Camp Gordon on the 19th. The men marched in complete gear, with packs and rifles, to the nearby rail station at Chamblee, Georgia, where local soldiers in the regiment were given a tearful farewell by family and friends.3 The regiment spent two days on the train, arriving at Camp Upton, New York, on 21 April. Although the conditions on the train were cramped, York was taking in the new experiences, being sustained by his faith, praying: 44 ALVIN YORK O God, in hope that sends the shining ray, Far down the future’s broadening way; In peace that only Thou canst give; With Thee, O Master, let me live.4 The soldiers were cheered by American citizens whenever the train made a stop, with the largest welcome in New York City, where there was “shouting, blowing whistles and tooting horns.”5 The soldiers stayed at Camp Upton for nine days, until the ships that would send them to France were ready. While at Camp Upton, York and the men were put through endless inspections, marching, drills, and issued more seemingly useless equipment and clothing “to ensure that the cause of Democracy was satisfied.”6 The leaders foolishly went so far as to say that no time would be given off even for a large number of the men from New York City, which was less than an hour away. This was too much to bear for the Mid-Atlantic York’s 328th Regiment marches in the 4 April 1918 divisional parade that marked the end of its time at Camp Gordon, Georgia. After this, the men boarded trains for New York, to board ships destined for Europe and war. (AHEC) Marching as to War 45 and New England soldiers, who were close to home and had not seen their families for some six months. In response, large groups went AWOL.7 As most of the 328th’s officers were southerners, and were close enough to their families at Camp Gordon to see them often, they did not anticipate that their northern men would desire the same courtesy of seeing their families before going overseas. To stem the flow of AWOLs, the regiment eventually caught on and offered furloughs , but this was too little, too late. Most of the men returned, but several hundred arrived at Camp Upton after the regiment had shipped out. These men were reprimanded and boarded later ships to catch up with the 328th in France. For many, it would be the last time that they would see their loved ones.8 York’s regiment commenced rail movement to the Port of Boston late on 30 April and boarded two Canadian ships of the Montreal, Canada Allan Line during the early morning hours of 2:00–4:00 A.m. on 1 May 1918. The ships that the 328th boarded were the SS Scandinavian , which transported the 2nd Battalion (York’s unit) and 3rd Battalion, and the SS Grampian, which transported the “1st Battalion , Regimental Headquarters, Machine Gun and...